themselves, and to two such men the reader is now requested to
permit himself to be introduced.

Henry Norman, the senior of the two, is the second son of a
gentleman of small property in the north of England. He was
educated at a public school, and thence sent to Oxford; but
before he had finished his first year at Brasenose his father was
obliged to withdraw him from it, finding himself unable to bear
the expense of a university education for his two sons. His elder
son at Cambridge was extravagant; and as, at the critical moment
when decision became necessary, a nomination in the Weights and
Measures was placed at his disposal, old Mr. Norman committed the
not uncommon injustice of preferring the interests of his elder
but faulty son to those of the younger with whom no fault had
been found, and deprived his child of the chance of combining the
glories and happiness of a double first, a fellow, a college
tutor, and a don.

Whether Harry Norman gained or lost most by the change we need
not now consider, but at the age of nineteen he left Oxford and
entered on his new duties. It must not, however, be supposed that
this was a step which he took without difficulty and without
pause. It is true that the grand modern scheme for competitive
examinations had not as yet been composed. Had this been done,
and had it been carried out, how awful must have been the
cramming necessary to get a lad into the Weights and Measures!
But, even as things were then, it was no easy matter for a young
man to convince the chief clerk that he had all the acquirements
necessary for the high position to which he aspired.