d by the prospect before me,
I took to my bed and went to sleep.

My dreams that night were a strange mixture of Merrett, Barnacle, and
Company, the little girl who fell from the pony, Jack Smith, and the
jovial baker; but among them all I slept very soundly, and woke like a
giant refreshed the next day.

If only I had been easy in my mind about Jack Smith, I should have been
positively cheerful. But the thought of him, and the fact of his never
having called for my letters, sorely perplexed and troubled me. Had he
forgotten all about me, then? How I had pictured his delight in getting
that first letter of mine, when I wrote it surreptitiously in the
playground at Stonebridge House a year ago! And I had meant it to be
such a jolly comforting letter, too; and after all here it was in my
pocket unopened. I must just read it over again myself. And I put my
hand in my pocket to get it. To my surprise, however, only the last of
the two letters was there, and high or low I could not find the other.
It was very strange, for I distinctly remembered no having it in my hand
after leaving Packworth. Then suddenly it occurred to me I must have
had it in my hand when I met the runaway pony, and in the confusion of
that adventure have dropped it. So I had not even the satisfaction of
reading over my own touching effusion, which deprived me of a great
intellectual treat.

However, I had other things to think of, for to-morrow was Saturday, the
day on which I was to make my solitary excursion to London in quest of
the junior clerkship at Merrett, Barnacle, and Company's.

CHAPTER TEN.

HOW I RAN AGAINST MY FRIEND SMITH IN AN UNEXPECTED QUARTER.

I suppose my uncle thought it good discipline to turn a young fellow
like me adrift for a whole day in London to shift for myself, and
wrestle single-handed with the crisis that was to decide my destiny.

He may have been right, but when, after an hour's excited journey in the
train, I found myself along with several hundred fellow-mortals standing
in a street which seemed to be literally alive with people, I, at any
rate, neither admired his wisdom nor blessed him for his good
intentions.

Every one but myself seemed to be in a desperate hurry. Had I not been
sure it was the way of the place, I should have been tempted to suppose
some tremendous fire, or some extraordinary event was taking place at
the other end of the street, and that every one was rushing to get a
gli