ld be hard to say which of these three important sentences struck
me as the most cruel. I think the last.

I was standing in the street, staring blankly at the missive, when I was
startled beyond measure by feeling a hand on my shoulder, and a voice
pronouncing my name--

"Samuels!"

It was Michael McCrane. But not the Michael McCrane I knew in the City,
or the one I had seen going below on board the steamer. He wore a
frock-coat and light trousers, lavender gloves, and a hat--glorious
product of that identical box--in which you might see your own face. A
rose was in his button-hole, his hair was brushed, his collar was white,
and his chin was absolutely smooth.

"Whatever are you doing here?" he asked.

"Oh," faltered I, for I was fairly overcome, both by my own misfortunes
and his magnificent appearance, "nothing; only a--a little business run,
you know, for the manager."

"I didn't know we had any customers in these parts."

"Well no. But, I say, what are _you_ doing here?"

"Business too," said he--"grave business. By the way, Samuels, have you
got any better clothes than these?"

Here was a question. And from Michael McCrane!

"Because," he went on--and here he became embarrassed himself--"if you
had--in fact, you'd do as you are, because you won't have to wear your
hat. What I mean is, that now you _are_ here--I'd be awfully obliged if
you'd be my best man--I'm to be married this morning. I say, there's
the bell beginning to ring. Come on, Samuels."

CHAPTER TEN.

NEW LIGHT ON AN OLD FABLE.

Part I.

A DISCOVERY.

What cannot one discover on an old bookstall? Who would have supposed I
should have had the luck to pick up the extraordinary collection of
newspaper-cuttings which are here presented to the reader?

The extracts speak for themselves. They present in a moderately
connected form the story of a famous epoch in English history, and shed
a flood of light on transactions which have long since passed into the
region of myth.

Although the dates of months and days are given, the actual year to
which the extracts refer is unfortunately left in obscurity. But from
internal evidence, and certain references to current events, it is
supposed that the date cannot have been later than the reign of King
Arthur--or at any rate before the Saxon period.

I may say that in reading over the present account and the mythological
story of Jack the Giant Killer, I am struck by several di