neath 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 stiff, "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
