He still repeated to himself the old watchword, though now in humbler tone and more bated breath; and it may be presumed that he had now a clearer meaning of its import.
'But his present place,' continued Gertrude, 'is much--very much more suited to him.

He is corresponding clerk in the first bank here, and though his pay is nearly double what it was at the other place, his hours of work are not so oppressive.

He goes at nine and gets away at five--that is, except on the arrival or dispatch of the English mails.' Here was a place of bliss for a man who had been a commissioner, attending at the office at such hours as best suited himself, and having clerks at his beck to do all that he listed.

And yet, as Gertrude said, this was a place of bliss to him.

It was a heaven as compared with that other hell.
'Alley is such a noble boy,' said Gertrude, becoming almost joyous as she spoke of her own immediate cares.