"There!" he exclaimed, turning to the overseer triumphantly, "What did I say? Here's the first boy I meet, fresh from the lye-tub, and he reads it straight off without a blunder, and better than you could have read it yourself. Here, boy, read that." He took a letter from his pocket, written in a terribly puzzling hand, and placed it before me. I took it, hesitated for a moment, and then began: "`My dear sir,--I have given the most careful consideration to your proposal, and I am quite willing to--to--to--to--' If you please, sir, I'm very sorry," I stammered, "but I can't make out that word." "No, boy, nor I neither. I don't believe the writer can. There, go and wash those dirty hands," he continued, snatching the letter from me. "No: stop!" cried Mr Grimstone wrathfully; "I want that boy here." "Then you may take your great clever noodle, Jem Smith," said the little man. "Mr Rowle, I will not have my rules and regulations broken in this way, sir." "Hang you and your rules," said the little man. "Have a pinch? No? Then let it alone." "I cannot and will not spare that boy," cried Mr Grimstone, motioning away the snuff-box. For answer the little man tightened his lips, snapped-to the lid of his snuff-box, hastily took a pinch, snapped his fingers in the overseer's face, and taking me by the shoulder, marched me before him towards the door, and past Mr Hallett's frame. "Here, get your jacket, my lad," said the little man. "You can wash your hands upstairs." Mr Hallett nodded to me and looked, as I thought, pleased as I passed him, and preceding my new taskmaster, I went up to the next floor, where he led me to a glass case, exactly like that occupied by Mr Grimstone and the reader in his room, the sides being similarly decorated with slips of paper hanging from nails. He showed me where to wash, and, this done, I was soon by his side, reading steadily on to him various pieces of manuscript, while, spectacles on nose, he pored over and made corrections on the margins of the printed slips of paper that were constantly being brought to him by a youth who printed them from the column galleys at a small hand-press. I got on pretty well, for my home training had made manuscript easy to me. In fact, I had often copied pieces for my father, containing letters from various naturalist friends, while my sojourn at Mr Blakeford's had made anything of a legal character perfectly clear. That night, when it was time to go, and I had had no greater unpleasantness to contend with than several severe fits of sneezing brought on when the little man used his snuff-box, I timidly asked him if I was wanted the next day, for as yet no opportunity had served for making known my knowledge of his brother.