lfer. To be
near her, has been a recompense to me from day to day, even for the
undeserved treatment I have had here, and for the degraded aspect in
which she has often seen me. Since Miss Wilfer rejected me, I have never
again urged my suit, to the best of my belief, with a spoken syllable or
a look. But I have never changed in my devotion to her, except--if she
will forgive my saying so--that it is deeper than it was, and better
founded.'

'Now, mark this chap's saying Miss Wilfer, when he means L.s.d.!' cried
Mr Boffin, with a cunning wink. 'Now, mark this chap's making Miss
Wilfer stand for Pounds, Shillings, and Pence!'

'My feeling for Miss Wilfer,' pursued the Secretary, without deigning to
notice him, 'is not one to be ashamed of. I avow it. I love her. Let
me go where I may when I presently leave this house, I shall go into a
blank life, leaving her.'

'Leaving L.s.d. behind me,' said Mr Boffin, by way of commentary, with
another wink.

'That I am incapable,' the Secretary went on, still without heeding him,
'of a mercenary project, or a mercenary thought, in connexion with Miss
Wilfer, is nothing meritorious in me, because any prize that I could
put before my fancy would sink into insignificance beside her. If
the greatest wealth or the highest rank were hers, it would only be
important in my sight as removing her still farther from me, and making
me more hopeless, if that could be. Say,' remarked the Secretary,
looking full at his late master, 'say that with a word she could strip
Mr Boffin of his fortune and take possession of it, she would be of no
greater worth in my eyes than she is.'

'What do you think by this time, old lady,' asked Mr Boffin, turning to
his wife in a bantering tone, 'about this Rokesmith here, and his caring
for the truth? You needn't say what you think, my dear, because I don't
want you to cut in, but you can think it all the same. As to taking
possession of my property, I warrant you he wouldn't do that himself if
he could.'

'No,' returned the Secretary, with another full look.

'Ha, ha, ha!' laughed Mr Boffin. 'There's nothing like a good 'un while
you ARE about it.'

'I have been for a moment,' said the Secretary, turning from him and
falling into his former manner, 'diverted from the little I have to say.
My interest in Miss Wilfer began when I first saw her; even began when I
had only heard of her. It was, in fact, the cause of my throwing myself
in Mr Boffin's way, a