Certain it is that Clery in no way enhanced his character in the service by taking up such an exposed position. His character officially indeed had been represented as scarcely anything to be proud of; he met with scant leniency at the hands of those over him, and it was rumoured that his days would not be long in the land, that is, of the postal service. It is said that during this troublous period he was “suspended” no less than thirteen times. Then, to the surprise of every one, the supervising officials especially, young Clery, the agitator, was suddenly informed that Mr. Raikes, the Postmaster-General, had expressed a desire to see him. Such a proceeding on the part of any former Postmaster-General was wholly unheard of; and if it was regarded as _infra dig._ for the gilded figurehead of a great public department to voluntarily and unasked grant an interview to an underling so low down in the rungs of the service, the subordinate himself was to gain a little more credit and respect from that moment. The youth was doing the ordinary work of the juniors at the time, and his duty had to be provided for by the superintendent of his branch, to enable him to gratify the Postmaster-General’s extraordinary request for an interview with this agitating subordinate, whose notoriety had reached the august ears. He had but to step across St. Martin’s-le-Grand to find himself in the presence of Mr. Cecil Raikes, and that gentleman he found all smiles instead of all frowns, as he had been led to anticipate, and a welcoming nod reassured him that at least the Postmaster-General was not about to order him to be bow-strung on the spot.