rag and Co.'s. His tormentor there, however,
began at length, in some degree, to relax his _active_ exertions against
Titmouse, simply because of the exertion requisite for keeping them up.
He attributed the pallid cheek and depressed manner of Titmouse entirely
to the discipline which had been inflicted upon him at the shop; and was
gratified at perceiving that all his other young men seemed, especially
in his presence, to have imbibed his hatred of Titmouse. What produced
in Tag-rag this hatred of Titmouse? Simply what had taken place on the
Monday. Mr. Tag-rag's dignity and power had been doggedly set at nought
by one of his shopmen, who had since refused to make the least
submission, or offer any kind of apology. Such conduct struck at the
root of subordination in his great establishment. Again, there is
perhaps nothing in the world so calculated to enrage a petty and vulgar
mind to the highest pitch of malignity, as the cool persevering defiance
of an inferior, whom it strives to _despise_, while it is only _hating_,
feeling at the same time such to be the case. Tag-rag now and then, when
he looked towards Titmouse, as he stood behind the counter, felt as
though he could have killed the little ape. Titmouse attempted once or
twice, during the week, to obtain a situation elsewhere, but in vain.
He could expect no character from Tag-rag; and when the 10th of August
should have arrived, what was to become of him? These were the kind of
thoughts often passing through his mind during the Sunday, which he and
Huckaback spent together in unceasing conversation on the one absorbing
event of the last week. Titmouse, poor little puppy, had dressed himself
with just as much care as usual; but as he was giving the finishing
touches at his toilet, pumping up grievous sighs every half minute, the
sum of his reflections might be stated in the miserable significance of
a quaint saying of Poor Richard's--"How hard is it to make an empty sack
stand upright!"

Although the sun shone as vividly and beautifully as on the preceding
Sunday, to Titmouse's saddened eye there seemed a sort of gloom
everywhere. Up and down the Park he and Huckaback walked, towards the
close of the afternoon; but Titmouse had not so elastic a strut as
before. He felt empty and sinking. Everybody seemed to know what a sad
pretender he was: and the friends quitted the magic circle much earlier
than had been usual with Titmouse. What with the fatigue of a long da