in. He was not only regarded by the whole town as a fellow wonderful and dazzling; but he so regarded himself. He could not get over it. He had alw

nsformed into an oyster; and Denry felt strangely that the oyster-knife was lying about somewhere handy, b

ot in

al. The money had been largely invested in mortgage on cottage-property; the interest on it had not been paid, and latterly Mrs. Codleyn had been obliged to foreclose, thus becoming the owner of some seventy cottages. Mrs. Codleyn, though they brought her in about twelve pounds a week gross, este

ops you to ￡35, it means thirty-five shillings in your pocket, which is a box of Havanas or a fancy waistcoat. Is not this exciting? And there are seven thousand houses in Bursley. Mrs. Codleyn hoped that her ratable value would be reduced. She based the hope chiefly on the fact that she was a client of Mr. Duncalf, the Town Clerk. The Town Clerk was not the Borough Surveyor and had nothing to do with the re-valuation. Moreover Mrs. Codleyn presumably entrusted him with her affairs becau

dissatisfaction with which she had learned the news (printed on a bit of bluish p

city for its lack of ceremony. When the stairs had finished creaking under the descent of Mrs. Codleyn's righteous fury, M

said his master

Denry was not a personage of high importance in the town, the

you

s,

if, after our interview this morning and your extraordinary remarks, you wish to place your interests in other h

e always like that-hypercritical. Also: "Well, I jolly well hope she does chuck him! Then I sha n't have those rents to collect." Every Monday, and often on Tuesday too, Denry

do," said

e room, Mr. Duncalf called

chi

s,

tidal wave. And for one little second it seemed to him that to have danced with a Countess while the flower of

after the ball, beneath his great glory, he had trembled to meet Mr. Duncalf's eye lest Mr. Duncalf should ask him: "Machin, what were you doing at the Town Hall last night, behaving as if yo

t sur

Mayor's ball?" demanded

s! And a very di

t. Transparent veracity! He s

hy

gotten to put my name down on

you thought I 'd also forgotten to

the classic established tailor of the town, Hatterton, whose trade Sillitoe w

Duncalf, after a judic

castle of his silence, w

self, dancing with your betters?

id Denry.

ou?" The trick of speech had been enormously effective with Sillitoe, for instance, and with the Countess. He was in process of acquiring renown for it. Certainly it was effective now.

k's notice," said M

employers are so unscrup

; and to himself he said: "

d, for Mr. Duncalf had only been venting on Denry the annoyance induced on him by Mrs. Codleyn. But it is remarkable that he was not depressed at all. No! he went about with songs and whistling,

five-pound note won from Harold