rm kindly; "you mustn't say that,
young 'un. The last words Reg said to me when he went off were, `Keep
your eye on young Gedge, don't forget'; the very last words, and he's
reminded me of my promise in every letter since. I've been a cad, I
know, not to see more of you; but you mustn't go thinking that you've no
friends. If it were only for Reg's sake I'd stick to you. Don't blame
him, though, for I know he thinks a lot about you, and it would break
his heart if you went to the bad. Of course you can help going to the
bad, old man; we can all help it."

The boy looked up with the clouds half brushed away from his face.

"I don't want to go to the bad," said he; "but I sort of feel I'm bound
to go, unless some one sticks up for me. I'm so awfully weak-minded,
I'm not fit to be trusted alone."

"Hullo, I say," whispered Horace, suddenly stopping short in his walk,
"who's that fellow sneaking about there by the editor's door?"

"He looks precious like Durfy," said Gedge; "I believe it is he."

"What does he want there, I wonder--he wasn't on the late shift to-
night, was he?"

"No; he went at seven."

"I don't see what he wants hanging about when everybody's gone," said
Horace.

"Unless he's screwed and can't get home--I've known him like that. That
fellow's not screwed, though," he added; "see, he's heard some one
coming, and he's off steady enough on his legs."

"Rum," said Horace. "It looked like Durfy, too. Never mind, whoever it
is, we've routed him out this time. Good-night, old man; don't go down
on your luck, mind, and don't go abusing Reg behind his back, and don't
forget you're booked to come home to supper with me on Monday, and see
my mother. Ta-ta."

CHAPTER THIRTEEN.

THE NEW SECRETARY TAKES THE REINS.

It is high time to return to Reginald, whom we left in a somewhat dismal
fashion, straining his eyes for a last sight of his mother and brother
as they waved farewell to him on the Euston platform.

If the reader expects me to tell him that on finding himself alone our
hero burst into tears, or broke out into repentant lamentations, or
wished himself under the wheels of the carriage, I'm afraid he will be
disappointed.

Reginald spent the first half-hour of his solitary journey in
speculating how the oil in the lamp got round at the wick. He
considered the matter most attentively, and kept his eyes fixed on the
dim light until London was miles behind him, and the hedges and g