So great was the change in his life that, in these early days, it seemed as if he had already come into his kingdom.

He strutted about, poor child, like the prince in a fairy tale, and, in spite of Barney Bill's precepts, he outgrew his boots immediately.

Mrs.Seddon, an old friend of Barney Bill, whom she addressed and spoke as Mr.William, kept a small shop in which she sold newspapers and twine and penny bottles of ink.

In the little back-parlour Mrs.Seddon and Tane and Paul had their meals, while the shop boy, an inconsiderable creature with a perpetual cold in his head, attended to the unexpected customer.

To Paul, this boy, with whom a few months ago he would have joyously changed places, was as the dust beneath his feet.