of papers of which he denied having
ever had the custody. Then arose a tumult of anger among those who
would be supposed to have had the papers if Crocker did not have
them, and a violent search was instituted. Then it was discovered
that he had absolutely--destroyed the official documents! They
referred to the reiterated complaints of a fidgety old gentleman who
for years past had been accusing the Department of every imaginable
iniquity. According to this irritable old gentleman, a diabolical
ingenuity had been exercised in preventing him from receiving a
single letter through a long series of years.

This was a new crime. Wicked things were often done, but anything so
wicked as this had never before been perpetrated in the Department.
The minds of the senior clerks were terribly moved, and the young men
were agitated by a delicious awe. Crocker was felt to be abominable;
but heroic also,--and original. It might be that a new opening for
great things had been invented.

The fidgety old gentleman had never a leg to stand upon,--not a
stump; but now it was almost impossible that he should not be made
to know that all his letters of complaint had been made away with!
Of course Crocker must be dismissed. He was at once suspended, and
called upon for his written explanation. "And I am to be married next
week!" he said weeping to Mr. Jerningham. Aeolus had refused to see
him, and Mr. Jerningham, when thus appealed to, only shook his head.
What could a Mr. Jerningham say to a man who had torn up official
papers on the eve of his marriage? Had he laid violent hands on his
bride, but preserved the papers, his condition, to Mr. Jerningham's
thinking, would have been more wholesome.

It was never known who first carried the tidings to Paradise Row.
There were those who said that Tribbledale was acquainted with a
friend of Bobbin, and that he made it all known to Clara in an
anonymous letter. There were others who traced a friendship between
the potboy at The Duchess and a son of one of the messengers. It was
at any rate known at No. 10. Crocker was summoned to an interview
with the old woman; and the match was then and there declared to be
broken off. "What are your intentions, sir, as to supporting that
young woman?" Mrs. Demijohn demanded with all the severity of which
she was capable. Crocker was so broken-hearted that he had not a word
to say for himself. He did not dare to suggest that perhaps he might
not be dismissed.