with cleared the table piled everything on the dumb waiter gave us our wine glasses and of his own accord wheeled the dumb waiter into the all this was done in a perfect manner and he never raised his eyes from what he was about yet his very elbows when he had his back towards me seemed to with the expression of his fixed opinion that i was extremely young can i do anything more sir i thanked him and said no but would he take no dinner himself none i am obliged to you sir is mr coming from oxford op david i beg your pardon sir is mr coming from oxford i imagine that he might be here to morrow sir i rather thought he might have been here to day sir the mistake is mine no doubt sir if you should see him first � said i if you excuse me sir i don t think i shall see him first in case you do said i pray say that i am sorry he was not here to day as an old of his was here indeed sir and he divided a bow between me and with a glance at the latter he was moving softly to the door when in a forlorn hope of saying something naturally � which i never could to this man � i said oh sir did you remain long at that time not particularly so sir you saw the boat completed yes sir i remained behind on purpose to see the boat completed i know he raised his eyes to mine respectfully mr has not seen it yet i suppose i really can t say sir i think � but i really can t say sir i wish you good night sir he comprehended everybody present in the respectful bow with which he followed these words and disappeared my visitors seemed to breathe more freely when he was gone but my own relief was very great for besides the arising from that extraordinary sense of being at a disadvantage which i always had in this man s presence my conscience had embarrassed me with whispers that i had his master and i could not repress a vague uneasy dread that he might find it out how was it having so little in reality to conceal that i always did feel as if this man were finding me out mr roused me from this reflection which was blended with a certain apprehension of seeing himself by many on the absent as a most respectable fellow and a thoroughly admirable servant mr i may remark had taken his full share of the general bow and had received it with infinite condescension but punch my dear said mr it like time and tide waits for no man ah it is at the present moment in high flavor my love will you give me your opinion mrs pronounced it excellent then i will drink said mr if my friend will permit me to take that social liberty to the days when my friend and myself were younger and fought our way in the world side by side i may say of myself and in words we have sung together before now that we run about the and d the fine the personal history and experience � in a point of view � on several occasions i am not exactly aware said mr with the old roll in his voice and the old indescribable ah of saying something genteel what go may be but i have no doubt that and myself would frequently have taken a pull at them if it had been mr at the then present moment took a pull at his punch so we all did evidently lost in wondering at what distant time mr and i could possibly have been comrades in the battle of the world said mr clearing his throat and warming with the punch and with the fire my dear another glass mrs said it must be very little but we couldn t allow that so it was a as we are quite confidential here mr said mrs her punch mr being a part of our i should much like to have your opinion on mr s prospects for corn said mrs as i have repeatedly said to mr may be gentlemanly but it is not commission to the extent of two and in a fortnight cannot however limited our ideas be considered we were all agreed upon that then said mrs who herself on taking a clear view of things and keeping mr straight by her woman s wisdom when he might otherwise go a little crooked then i ask myself this question if corn is not to be relied upon what is are coals to be relied upon not at all we have turned our attention to that experiment on the suggestion of my family and we find it mr leaning back in his chair with his hands in his pockets eyed us aside and nodded his head as much as to say that the case was very clearly put the articles of corn and coals said mrs still more being equally out of the question mr i naturally look round the world and say what is there in which a person of mr s talent is likely to succeed and i the doing anything on commission because commission is not a certainty what is best suited to a person of mr s peculiar temperament is i am convinced a certainty and i both expressed by a feeling murmur that this great discovery was no doubt true of mr and that it did him much credit i will not conceal from you my dear mr said mrs that i have long felt the business to be particularly adapted to mr look at and look at and it is on that extensive footing that mr i know from 