auspices, having L10 per annum more for the business and
pleasures of life in London than most of his young brethren of
the Civil Service. Whether this would have sufficed of itself to
enable him to live up to that tone of society to which he had
been accustomed cannot now be surmised, as very shortly after his
appointment an aunt died, from whom he inherited some L150 or
L200 a year. He was, therefore, placed above all want, and soon
became a shining light even in that bright gallery of spiritualized
stars which formed the corps of clerks in the Secretary's Office
at the Weights and Measures.

Young Norman was a good-looking lad when he entered the public
service, and in a few years he grew up to be a handsome man. He
was tall and thin and dark, muscular in his proportions, and
athletic in his habits. From the date of his first enjoyment of
his aunt's legacy he had a wherry on the Thames, and was soon
known as a man whom it was hard for an amateur to beat. He had a
racket in a racket-court at St. John's Wood Road, and as soon as
fortune and merit increased his salary by another L100 a year, he
usually had a nag for the season. This, however, was not attained
till he was able to count five years' service in the Weights and
Measures. He was, as a boy, somewhat shy and reserved in his
manners, and as he became older he did not shake off the fault.
He showed it, however, rather among men than with women, and,
indeed, in spite of his love of exercise, he preferred the
society of ladies to any of the bachelor gaieties of his
unmarried acquaintance. He was, nevertheless, frank and confident
in those he trusted, and true in his friendships, though,
considering his age, too slow in making a friend. Such was Henry
Norman at the time at which our tale begins. What were the faults