Full of this idea Mr Enoch Blurt put on his hat with an irascible fling and went off to the City. Arrived at St. Martin's-le-Grand he made for the principal entrance. At any other time he would have, been struck with the grandeur of the buildings. He would have paused and admired the handsome colonnade of the old office and the fine front of the new buildings opposite, but Mr Blurt could see nothing except missing letters. Architecture appealed to him in vain. Perhaps his state of irritability was increased by a vague suspicion that all Government officials were trained and almost bound to throw obstacles in the way of free inquiry. "I want," said he, planting himself defiantly in front of an official who encountered him in the passage, "to see the--the--Secretary, the-- the--Postmaster-General, the chief of the Post-Office, whoever he may be. There is my card." "Certainly, sir, will you step this way?" The official spoke with such civility, and led the way with such alacrity, that Mr Blurt felt it necessary to think exclusively of his wrongs lest his indignation should cool too soon. Having shown him into a comfortable waiting-room, the official went off with his card. In a few minutes a gentleman entered, accosted Mr Blurt with a polite bow, and asked what he could do for him. "Sir," said Mr Blurt, summoning to his aid the last rags of his indignation, "I come to make a complaint. Many of the letters addressed to our firm are missing--have been missing for some time past,--and from the inquiries I have made it seems evident to me that they must have been lost in passing through the Post-Office." "I regret much to hear this," returned the gentleman, whom--as Mr Blurt never ascertained who he was--we shall style the Secretary, at all events he represented that officer. "You may rely on our doing our utmost to clear up the matter. Will you be kind enough to give me the full particulars?" The Secretary's urbanity gave the whole of Mr Blurt's last rags of indignation to the winds. He detailed his case with his usual earnestness and good-nature.