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the
practical experience, and I've got the capital; and as soon as I
got a squint of this little corner shop—understand what I
mean?'
    His eyes gleamed with eagerness which was too candid for the
typically vulgar mind. In his self-satisfaction he exhibited a
gross cordiality which might have made rather an agreeable
impression on a person otherwise disinterested.
    At this point the asthmatic woman reappeared, carrying a laden
tray. Andrew at once entered into conversation with her, framing
his remarks and queries so as to learn all he could concerning the
state of the business and the disposition of its proprietors. His
nephew, meanwhile, stung to the core with shame, kept apart, as if
amusing himself with the prospect from the window, until summoned
to partake of the meal. His uncle expressed contempt of everything
laid before them.
    ' This ain't no wye of caterin' for young gents at
Collige!' he exclaimed. 'If there ain't a openin' 'ere, then I
never see one. Godwin, bo-oy, 'ow much longer'll it be before
you're out of you're time over there?'
    'It's uncertain—I can't say.'
    'But ain't it understood as you stay till you've passed the top
standard, or whatever it's called?'
    'I really haven't made up my mind what to do.'
    'But you'll be studyin' 'ere for another twelve months, I
dessay?'
    'Why do you ask?'
    'Why? cos s'posin' I got 'old o' this 'ere little shop, or
another like it close by, me an' you might come to an
understandin'—see? It might be worth your while to give a 'int to
the young gents as you're in with—eh?'
    Godwin was endeavouring to masticate a piece of toast, but it
turned to sawdust upon his palate. Of a sudden, when the bilious
gloom of his countenance foretold anything but mirth, he burst into
hard laughter. Andrew smote him jovially on the back.
    'Tickles you, eh, bo-oy? "Peak's Refreshment an' Dinin' Rooms!"
Everything tip-top, mind; respectable business, Godwin; nothing for
nobody to be ashamed of— that wouldn't do, of course.'
    The young man's laughter ended as abruptly as it had begun, but
his visage was no longer clouded with bitter misery. A strange
indifference seemed to have come upon him, and whilst the
speculative uncle talked away with increasing excitement, he ate
and drank heedlessly.
    'Mother expects you to-morrow, she tells me,' said Andrew, when
his companion's taciturnity had suggested a change of topic.
'Shouldn't wonder if you see me over at Twybridge again before
long. I was to remember your awnt and your cousin Jowey to you. You
wouldn't know Jowey? the sharpest lad of his age as ever I knowed,
is Jowey. Your father 'ud a' took a delight in 'im, if 'e'd lived,
that 'e would.'
    For a quarter of an hour or so the dialogue was concerned with
domestic history. Godwin gave brief reply to many questions, but
asked none, not even such as civility required. The elder man,
however, was unaffected by this reticence, and when at length his
nephew pleaded an engagement as excuse for leave-taking he shook
hands with much warmth. The two parted close by the shop, and
Godwin, casting a glance at the now silent College, walked hastily
towards his lodgings.

CHAPTER II
    In the prosperous year of 1856, incomes of between a hundred and
a hundred and fifty pounds were chargeable with a tax of
elevenpence halfpenny in the pound: persons who enjoyed a revenue
of a hundred and fifty or more had the honour of paying one and
fourpence. Abatements there were none, and families supporting life
on two pounds a week might in some cases, perchance, be reconciled
to the mulct by considering how equitably its incidence was
graduated.
    Some, on the other hand, were less philosophical; for instance,
the household consisting of Nicholas Peak, his wife, their
three-year-old daughter, their newly-born son, and a blind sister
of Nicholas, dependent upon him for sustenance. Mr. Peak, aged
thirty and now four years wedded, had a small cottage on the
outskirts of Greenwich. He was employed as dispenser, at a