Neither can I consent to shelter myself under the favorable opinions which many of my brother writers--and notably, the great writer to whom "Hide And Seek" is dedicated--expressed of these pages when I originally wrote them.

I leave it to the reader to compare this novel--especially in reference to the conception and delineation of character--with the two novels ("Antonina" and "Basil") which preceded it; and then to decide whether my third attempt in fiction, with all its faults, was, or was not, an advance in Art on my earlier efforts.

This is all the favor I ask for a work which I once wrote with anxious care--which I have since corrected with no sparing hand--which I have now finally dismissed to take its second journey through the world of letters as usefully and prosperously as it can.
HARLEY STREET, LONDON, SEPTEMBER, 1861.
OPENING CHAPTER.

A CHILD'S SUNDAY.
At a quarter to one o'clock, on a wet Sunday afternoon, in November 1837, Samuel Snoxell, page to Mr.Zachary Thorpe, of Baregrove Square, London, left the area gate with three umbrellas under his arm, to meet his master and mistress at the church door, on the conclusion of morning service.

Snoxell had been specially directed by the housemaid to distribute his three umbrellas in the following manner: the new silk umbrella was to be given to Mr.and Mrs.Thorpe; the old silk umbrella was to be handed to Mr.Goodworth, Mrs.Thorpe's father; and the heavy gingham was to be kept by Snoxell himself, for the special protection of "Master Zack," aged six years, and the only child of Mr.Thorpe.
Furnished with these instructions, the page set forth on his way to the church.
The morning had been fine for November; but before midday the clouds had gathered, the rain had begun, and the inveterate fog of the season had closed dingily over the wet streets, far and near.