s the pleasure of your company, will you? and, by that time,
perhaps I may have smoothed this little matter for you." Little thanked
him, accepted the invitation, and left the pair of secretaries together.

When he was gone, Grotait represented that public opinion would go with
Little on this question; and the outrages he had sustained would be all
ripped up by the Hillsborough Liberal, and the two topics combined in an
ugly way; and all for what?--to thwart a good-hearted young fellow in
a philanthropical crotchet, which, after all, did him honor, and would
never be imitated by any other master in Hillsborough. And so, for once,
this Machiavel sided with Henry, not from the purest motives, yet, mind
you, not without a certain mixture of right feeling and humanity.

On the Sunday Henry dined with him and his party, at "Savage's Hotel,"
and the said dinner rather surprised Henry; the meats were simple, but
of good quality, and the wines, which were all brought out by Grotait,
were excellent. That Old Saw, who retailed ale and spirits to his
customers, would serve nothing less to his guests than champagne and
burgundy. And, if the cheer was generous, the host was admirable; he
showed, at the head of his genial board, those qualities which, coupled
with his fanaticism, had made him the Doge of the Hillsborough trades.
He was primed on every subject that could interest his guests, and knew
something about nearly everything else. He kept the ball always going,
but did not monologuize, except when he was appealed to as a judge, and
then did it with a mellow grace that no man can learn without Nature's
aid. There is no society, however distinguished, in which Grotait would
not have been accepted as a polished and admirable converser.

Add to this that he had an art, which was never quite common, but is now
becoming rare, of making his guests feel his friends--for the time, at
all events.

Young Little sat amazed, and drank in his words with delight, and could
not realize that this genial philosopher was the person who had launched
a band of ruffians at him. Yet, in his secret heart, he could not doubt
it: and so he looked and listened with a marvelous mixture of feelings,
on which one could easily write pages of analysis, very curious, and
equally tedious.

They dined at three; and, at five, they got up, as agreed beforehand,
and went to inspect the reservoir in course of construction. A more
compendious work of art was ne