ttle chair, so thoughtfully
provided for weary customers, and with my head supported by the counter,
resumed my broken train of thought until, completely overcome by a sense
of drowsy comfort, I feel asleep.

'I was suddenly awakened by the church clock striking eight, and found
that all the town was wrapped in slumber and that the grocer had not yet
returned. Wondering what on earth could keep him away so late, and
hoping that no harm had overtaken him, I stiffly arose from my seat,
stretched myself, and betook me to my home and bed.

'On the following morning my first thought was for my friend, and on
learning that he had not returned during the night, I called in turn on
each of his neighbours,--the doctor, the vicar, the solicitor, the
postman, and the corn-chandler, and many another equally interested in
his movements. Not one, however, had seen him since the previous day,
and all showed the liveliest concern and anxiety at his mysterious
absence.

'Night followed day, and day again followed night, with no sign of the
vanished grocer. Weeks now passed by, and grief took possession of the
little town at the loss of one who was missed at every turn. Hoping that
even yet he might return, we kept his shop still open for him, and the
little birds, encouraged by the silence, flew in and out and nested in
the scales and amongst the stores, glutting their fluffy little bodies
with the sugar-plums, the currants, the herbs and spices that everywhere
abounded. And even the swallows, so much entertainment did they find
therein, forgot, as the summer drew to its close, to fly away,
preferring much to sleep the winter through in comfort.

'But alas! months, and years and years and years rolled by, and the
grocer never returned, and in time little enough thought was given to
one who had, at one time, been held in such esteem by all. But we, the
older Troutpegsters, still thought at times of our vanished friend, and
many were the theories we suggested to account for his disappearance.

'One held that he had been beguiled by gypsies, another that he had been
stolen to be exhibited as a rare model of virtue in some distant clime,
while others believed that the fairies, envious of our happiness in
possessing such a friend, had taken him from our midst; but all agreed
that we should have guarded our treasure with greater care.

'One never-to-be-forgotten evening the doctor, the solicitor, the
vicar, the corn-chandler, and myself