had been careful not to run foul of his superiors on official matters, and his official character had been good enough to please Lord John Manners and his party before the last General Election. The deputation to the Postmaster-General was memorable if only from the fact that this was the very first occasion the public head of the department had ever consented to receive representatives of the working staff. It looked like a concession, and as such would read well in the Tory press especially. But the men in their hearts were prepared for the disappointment which was to follow, and anticipated that it was the Postmaster-General himself who intended to get the most out of the interview. A few weeks afterwards, about the beginning of August, a scheme was announced. But it proved to be nothing more than an inflated bubble which, when pricked, contained only a few paltry advantages for the letter-carriers. The advantages were small enough in all conscience, amounting to some small increase in pay and benefits as to stripes for good conduct. But small as were the benefits, the letter-carriers so appreciated them that they decided to continue the agitation no further, and Booth, not without reluctance, resigned his position as the postmen’s leader. The only return Booth got for all the labour and all the responsibility he had taken on himself was that he was left with a debt of £35—a no insignificant amount to one in his position. By the aid of one of his friends he was able to obtain a loan, and with a characteristic independence paid it off without troubling the men with his private affairs. It was not that his followers proved ungrateful; they simply did not know the condition in which the agitation had stranded him; and perhaps he was too proud to inform them. There was the usual effort to testimonialise him and those who had most assisted him; but the thing was badly managed. An illuminated address was already prepared for Booth, and it was shown to him at his private house. There was also a purse of money subscribed, which would have proved a little fortune to him in the predicament, but there was some little sordid dispute among one or two who fancied themselves entitled to an equal share. This treatment so aroused the contempt of Booth that, seizing the illuminated address, which he regarded as more than conventionally insincere in the circumstances, he passionately tore it to fragments before them and flung it into their faces, ordering them to leave the house immediately. He refused to touch a penny-piece of the money subscribed; but instead set himself steadily to work to pay off the debts he had incurred on account of his connection with the agitation. So far, if the department wanted its revenge, it had it now.