And the rapid motion of the wheel is in sultry weather sometimes pleasant." Behind the shop, where had been originally the "back parlor," in the days when every genteel house in Chelsea had both its front and back parlor--the latter for sitting and living in, the former for the reception of company--sat this afternoon the proprietor, the man whose name had stood above the shop for fifty years, the original and only Emblem.

He was--nay, he is--for you may still find him in his place, and may make his acquaintance over a county history any day in the King's Road--he is an old man now, advanced in the seventies, who was born before the battle of Waterloo was fought, and can remember Chelsea when it was full of veterans wounded in battles fought long before the Corsican Attila was let loose upon the world.

His face wears the peaceful and wise expression which belongs peculiarly to his profession.

Other callings make a man look peaceful, but not all other callings make him look wise.

Mr.Emblem was born by nature of a calm temperament,--otherwise he would not have been happy in his business; a smile lies generally upon his lips, and his eyes are soft and benign; his hair is white, and his face, once ruddy, is pale, yet not shrunk and seamed with furrows as happens to so many old men, but round and firm; like his chin and lips it is clean shaven; he wears a black coat extraordinarily shiny in the sleeve, and a black silk stock just as he used to wear in the thirties when he was young, and something of a dandy, and would show himself on a Saturday evening in the pit of Drury Lane; and the stock is fastened behind with a silver buckle.