We are speaking, of course, of that more respectable branch of the establishment called the Secretary's Department.

At none other of our public offices do men commence with more than L90--except, of course, at those in which political confidence is required.

Political confidence is indeed as expensive as hydraulic pressure, though generally found to be less difficult of attainment.
Henry Norman, therefore, entered on his labours under good auspices, having L10 per annum more for the business and pleasures of life in London than most of his young brethren of the Civil Service.

Whether this would have sufficed of itself to enable him to live up to that tone of society to which he had been accustomed cannot now be surmised, as very shortly after his appointment an aunt died, from whom he inherited some L150 or L200 a year.

He was, therefore, placed above all want, and soon became a shining light even in that bright gallery of spiritualized stars which formed the corps of clerks in the Secretary's Office at the Weights and Measures.
Young Norman was a good-looking lad when he entered the public service, and in a few years he grew up to be a handsome man.