y case, he should tell no one else; all other
acquaintances must be content--if they cared to inquire--with vague
references to an "agency," or something of the sort. Neither his mother
nor Jane ever came to London for them, his change of address to a
poorer district would have no significance. In short, London, being
London, it seemed perfectly feasible to pass his life in a grocer's
shop without the fact becoming known to any one from whom he wished to
conceal it.

The rent of the shop and house was eighty-five pounds--an increase upon
that paid by Boxon. "Plant" was estimated at a hundred and twenty-five;
the stock at one hundred and fifty, and the goodwill at a round
hundred. This made a total of four hundred and sixty pounds, leaving
Warburton some couple of hundred for all the expenses of his start. The
landlord had consented to do certain repairs, including a repainting of
the shop, and this work had already begun. Not a day must be lost. Will
knew that the first half-year would decide his fate as a tradesman. Did
he come out at the end of six months with sufficient profit to pay a
bare three per cent. on the St. Neots money, all would be safe and
well. If the balance went against him, why then the whole battle of
life was lost, and he might go hide his head in some corner even more
obscure.

Of course he counted largely on the help of Allchin. Allchin, though
pig-headed and pugnacious, had a fair knowledge of the business, to
which he had been bred, and of business matters in general always
talked shrewdly. Unable, whatever his own straits, to deal penuriously
with my one, Will had thought out a liberal arrangement, whereby all
the dwelling part of the house should be given over, rent free, to
Allchin and his wife, with permission to take one lodger; the assistant
to be paid a small salary, and a percentage on shop takings when they
reached a certain sum per month. This proposal, then, he set before the
muscular man on his presenting himself this afternoon. Allchin's
astonishment at the story he had heard from Mrs. Hopper was not less
than that of the woman herself. With difficulty persuaded to sit down,
he showed a countenance in which the gloom he thought decorous
struggled against jubilation on his own account: and Warburton had not
talked long before his listener's features irresistibly expanded in a
happy grin.

"How would something of this kind suit you?" asked Will.

"Me, sir?" Allchin slapped his le