If he threatened to take it by force, I feel I should, though not a fighting man, do my best to protect it.

If, on the other hand, he should assert his intention of trying to obtain it by means of an action in any court of law, I should take it out of my pocket and hand it to him, and think I had got off cheaply." He squared the matter with the florid-faced lady for a five-pound note, which must have represented a month's profits on the paper; and she departed, taking her damaged offspring with her.

After she was gone, our chief spoke kindly to me.

He said: "Don't think I am blaming you in the least; it is not your fault, it is Fate.

Keep to moral advice and criticism--there you are distinctly good; but don't try your hand any more on 'Useful Information.' As I have said, it is not your fault.