name, and Mr. Clerk
scratches again to witness Mr. Bailiff's name, and then Mr. Bailiff takes
from his mails a little shagreen case, and out from the case comes
sealing-wax and the travelling seal of the Duchy.

There was my aunt's best winter-candle still burning away in the
daylight, for no one had taken any thought to put it out; and Mr. Bailiff
melts the wax at it, till a drop of sealing-wax falls into the grease and
makes a gutter down one side, and then there is a sweating of the
parchment under the hot wax, and at last on goes the seal. 'Signed,
sealed, and delivered,' says Mr. Clerk, rolling up the sheet and handing
it to Maskew; and Maskew takes and thrusts it into his bosom underneath
his waistcoat front--all cheek by jowl with that silver-hafted pistol,
whose butt I had seen before.

The postchaise stood before the door, the horses were stamping on the
cobble-stones, and the harness jingled. Mr. Clerk had carried out his
mails, but Mr. Bailiff stopped for a moment as he flung the travelling
cloak about his shoulders to say to Elzevir, 'Tut, man, take things not
too hardly. Thou shalt have the Mermaid at 20 a year, which will be
worth ten times as much to thee as this dreary place; and canst send thy
son to Bryson's school, where they will make a scholar of him, for he is
a brave lad'; and he touched my shoulder, and gave me a kindly look as
he passed.

'I thank your worship', said Elzevir, 'for all your goodness; but when I
quit this place, I shall not set up my staff again at any inn door.'

Mr. Bailiff seemed nettled to see his offer made so little of, and left
the room with a sniff, 'Then I wish you good day.'

Maskew had slipped out before him, and the children's noses left the
window-pane as the great man walked down the steps. There was a little
group to see the start, but it quickly melted; and before the clatter of
hoofs died away, the report spread through the village that Maskew had
turned Elzevir out of the Why Not?

For a long time after all had gone, Elzevir sat at the table with his
head between his hands, and I kept quiet also, both because I was myself
sorry that we were to be sent adrift, and because I wished to show
Elzevir that I felt for him in his troubles. But the young cannot enter
fully into their elders' sorrows, however much they may wish to, and
after a time the silence palled upon me. It was getting dusk, and the
candle which bore itself so bravely through auction and lease-s