Maker there, just like you and me, or any one
else. Ab, Smiles! what d'ye think now? Don't
see that in Newgate-street — eh?"

Mr. Smiles, with his hands in his waistcoat-
pocket, looked up at the great pile, and said,
dryly, still thinking of reconstruction: " No; I
should say not. What does it all mean, now?"

"Mean!" said Mr. Tilney, falling back and
taking large sweeps with his stick. "Why,
isn't it the grandest expansion, my dear Smiles?
Where is the vast piety of our forefathers,
their self-abnegation? The image of the
Almighty cut in what's-his-name  — you remember
the line — like some great creature lifts its tall
head and lies there! What does it mean? Ah,
Smiles, one day we shall know!"

The other was looking at him from head to
foot, with strong distrust.

"Look here, Mr. Tilney," he said, abruptly;
"we open the doors to-morrow, and must go to
work in earnest. The thing must be pulled
through, somehow. I tell you plainly, Mr. Tilney,
no amateuring will do; and every one that the
bank has put on the board and pays, Mr. Tilney,
will be expected to earn his money. Now, just
look here. Tell me about these people coming
out."

And he drew Mr. Tilney aside, now a little
damped in his enthusiasm. Then Mrs. Tilney
had an opening for being friendly to Mrs. Smiles,
as she had been cautioned to be by her husband,
but which only amounted to patronage.

"We are so sorry you have come at this
time," she said, sweetly; " so little inducement
to offer you. All our best families are away.
That is," she added, hastily, " many of the
best. I suppose you go out a great deal in
London?"

"Oh yes, yes; to be sure," she answered.
"Dinners, you know. Mr. Smiles is always
' dinnering' and being ' dinnered.'"

"Oh!" said Mrs. Tilney, with a start.
"Indeed!" In something of this key the relations
between the two ladies were kept up.

At the Smiles's Sunday dinner, laid at two,
the matron was in a proud flutter. "You saw
how they looked over at us in the church, my
dear," she said "all them dressed women and
girls. They were somebodies."

"And d'ye mind what they think?" said the
secretary. " I suppose the clothes on their
backs aren't paid for. A broken-down lot, every
one of them, I'll swear. Not sixpenn'orth of
business will be done among the whole, mark
my words."

"Mrs. Whatsername talked of their parties
and things, so I suppose they'll be askin' us."

"I suppose they will," he answered, " and
be glad to get hold of any solvent people that
can pay their way."

Mrs. Tilney, at their dinner at half-past six,
spoke of " those dreadful low, vulgar creatures"
that Mr. Tilney had brought down upon them.
"I suppose they'll fasten on us now, and we
shall have to call on them and ask them."

Mr. Tilney looked round in alarm. " Hush,
my dear," he said; "a perfect stroke of fortune.
A most important man. Secretary to the bank.
Good gracious! quite a power in the state.
You don't know what he may do for us."

As for Mr. Tilney, he was jubilant.

"To think of me, Dick Tilney," he said to
his friends, "coming to make my fortune at
this time of day, and starting as a businessman.
I fought it off a long time; but they
would have me. They are bringing gentlemen,
instead of money very much, don't you remark."
There was sherry before Mr. Tilney as he was
speaking. " If they thrust fortune on my back,
why should I take my hand from the plough.
Eh, Norbury? Help yourself. I have my girls
to look to. However, prosperity shan't turn
my head, as it has some people's. I may have
a little influence in this new position; but a
man who has seen the world is not easily put
off his centre. I give you my honour" — and
this speech was made to so many friends that
a generality will do for the hearer "that the
sailor Dook, the day he was seated on this
Glorious Throne of Ours, upon which the Sun
Never Sets — I vow to you, he was the same
sim-ple" (and Mr. Tilney's mouth assumed
that half-tearful, half-smiling look which was
his emotional expression) — " sim-ple, af-fable
creature as when he was plain Billy the Dook,
adored by the whole British Navy."

Indeed, this idea of being suddenly raised to
enormous power and affluence, by being
appointed to this post of local director, took
possession of his mind. " The responsibility is
awful," he would say. "There is something
grand in having a power delegated to you to sit
in judgment on your fellow-creatures' affairs —
judge of their bills; say to this one 'Have
so much;' to another, ' Take your bill, sir, and
write fifty.' You remember that fine parable?"
This delusion, too, happily for him, spread
to his friends and acquaintances, and, more
happily still, to those to whom he was indebted.
A very large class indeed these latter. Waterman,
the butcher; Griffiths, a splendid grocer,
and who, with that happy trade versatility
required by a country town, combined all sorts of
interests.

Mr. Tilney went round to these creditors with
his stick, and stalked into Waterman's
establishment, to which he had resorted every day,
having, as he himself said, "A fine eye for
meat."

"Well, Waterman, you have heard? They
have put me in the new bank — over all the gold
and silver. All the notes too, Waterman.
Anything, of course, that I can do for you, in my
little way, of course, Waterman ——"

Waterman, a dry, surly man, with an awful
cutlass hanging at his waist in a sort of surgical
instrument case, answered shortly, " I want
nothin', sir, but what's properly coming to me.
I can pay my way without compliments, and the
like. And now that you are settling down in
all these notes and gold, I hope the first thing'll
be to let honest, hard-working men come by
their own."

"Quite right, Waterman; you may depend