as on the merchant's
face as he read the name: a smile of curious meaning, neither fresh nor
sad; the meditative smile of one who looks upon an afflicted creature
from whom he is aloof. After a lengthened contemplation of this name, he
said, with a sigh, "Poor Chump! I wonder whether he's here, too." A
search for the defunct proved that he was out of date. Mr. Pole thrust
his hand to the bell that he might behold poor Chump in an old directory
that would call up the blotted years.

"I am here, sir," said his clerk, who had been holding deferential watch
at a few steps from the table.

"What do you do here then, sir, all this time?"

"I waited, sir, because--"

"You waste and dawdle away twenty or thirty minutes, when you ought to be
doing your work. What do you mean?" Mr. Pole stood up and took an angry
stride.

The young man could scarcely believe his master was not stooping to jest
with him. He said: "For that matter, sir, it can't be a minute that I
have been wasting."

"I called you in half an hour ago," returned Mr. Pole, fumbling at his
watch-fob.

"It must have been somebody else, sir."

"Did you bring in this directory? Look at it! This?"

"This is the book that I brought in, sir."

"How long since?"

"I think, not a minute and a half, sir."

Mr. Pole gazed at him, and coughed slowly. "I could have sworn..." he
murmured, and commenced blinking.

"I suppose I must be a little queer," he pursued; and instantly his right
hand struck out, quivering. The young clerk grasped it, and drew him to a
chair.

"Tush," said his master, working his feverish fingers across his
forehead. "Want of food. I don't eat like you young fellows. Fetch me a
glass of wine and a biscuit. Good wine, mind. Port. Or, no; you can't
trust tavern Port:--brandy. Get it yourself, don't rely on the porter.
And bring it yourself, you understand the importance? What is your name?"

"Braintop," replied the youth, with the modesty of one whose name has
been too frequently subjected to puns.

"I think I never heard so singular a name in my life," Mr. Pole
ejaculated seriously. "Braintop! It'll always make me think of brandy.
What are you waiting for now?"

"I took the liberty of waiting before, to say that a lady wished to see
you, sir."

Mr. Pole started from his chair. "A foreign lady?"

"She may be foreign. She speaks English, sir, and her name, I think, was
foreign. I've forgotten it, I fear."

"It's the wife of that fel