rey
autumn fields on either hand proclaimed the country. Then his mind
abandoned its problems, and for another half-hour he tried with all his
might to prevent the beat of the engine taking up the rhythm of one of
the old Wilderham cricket songs. That too he gave up eventually, and
let his imagination wander at large over those happy school days, when
all was merry, when every friend was a brick, and every exertion a
sport, when the future beckoned him forward with coaxing hand. What
grand times they were! Should he ever forget the last cricket match of
the summer term, when he bowled three men in one over, and made the
hardest catch on record in the Wilderham Close? He and Blandford--

Ah, Blandford! His mind swerved on the points here, and branched off
into the recollection of that ill-starred dinner at the Shades, and the
unhealthy bloated face of the cad Pillans. How he would have liked to
knock the idiot down, just as he had knocked Durfy down that night when
young Gedge--

Ah, another point here and another swerve. Would Horace be sure and
keep his eye on the young 'un, and was there any chance of getting him
down to Liverpool?

Once more a swerve, and this time into a straight reach of meditation
for miles and miles ahead. He thought of everything. He pictured his
own little office and living-room. He drew a mental portrait of the
housekeeper, and the cups and saucers he would use at his well-earned
meals. He made up his mind the board-room would be furnished in green
leather, and that the Bishop of S-- would be a jolly sort of fellow and
fond of his joke. He even imagined what the directors would say among
themselves respecting himself after he had been introduced and made his
first impression. At any rate they should not say he lacked in interest
for their affairs, and when he wrote home--

Ah! this was the last of all the points, and his thoughts after that ran
on the same lines till the train plunged into the smoke and gloom of the
great city which was henceforth to extend to him its tender mercies.

If Reginald had reckoned on a deputation of directors of the Select
Agency Corporation to meet their new secretary at the station, he was
destined to be disappointed. There were plenty of people there, but
none concerning themselves with him as he dragged his carpet-bag from
under the seat and set foot on the platform.

The bag was very heavy, and Shy Street, so he was told, was ten-minutes'