g, though, when I bring any one
into the house. Will you excuse me a moment, while I ring for more
coal?"

While he disappeared for this purpose, seeming to keep the bell in some
other part of the house, Nicholas took a hasty glance round the room,
and, opening a book on the table, read on the fly-leaf, _Paul Le Clear_,
a name which he tagged for convenience to the occupant of the room until
he should find one more authentic. The room corresponded to that in
which he had met Doctor Chocker, but the cheerful gleam of an open fire
gave a brighter aspect to the interior. Here also were books; but while
at the Doctor's the walls, tables, and even floor seemed bursting with
the crowd that had found lodging there, so that he had made his way to a
chair by a sort of footpath through a field of folios, here there was
the nicest order and an evident attempt at artistic arrangement. Nor
were books alone the possessors of the walls; for a few pictures and
busts had places, and two or three ingenious cupboards excited
curiosity. The room, in short, showed plainly the presence of a
cultivated mind; and Nicholas, who, though unfamiliar with city-life,
had received a capital intellectual training at the hands of a
scholarly, but anchoret father, was delighted at the signs of culture in
his new acquaintance.

Mr. Le Clear reentered the room, followed presently by the coal-scuttle
in the hands of a small servant, and, remembering the occasion which had
brought them together, invited Nicholas to finish the explanation which
he had begun below. He, set at ease by the agreeable surroundings,
opened his heart wide, and, for the sake of explicitness in his
narration, proposed to begin back at the very beginning.

"By all means begin at the beginning," said Mr. Le Clear, rubbing his
hands in expectant pleasure; "but before you begin, my good Sir, let me
suggest that we take a cup of tea together. I must take mine early
to-night, as I am to spend the evening out, and there's something to
tell you, Sir, when you are through,"--as if meeting his burst of
confidence with a corresponding one,--"though it's a small matter,
probably, compared with yours, but it has amused me. I can't make a
great show on the table," he added, with an elegant humility, when
Nicholas accepted his invitation; "but I like to take my tea in my room,
though I go out for dinner."

So saying, he brought from the cupboard a little table-cloth, and,
bustling about, depos