396 The Golden City. [OCT. 



The next morning, Maurice was brought forward in a public charac- 

 ter as a prisoner at a police-office, whither he was conveyed in company 

 with the lowest and most abandoned of his species. But it happened 

 that the prosecutor, having discovered that one of his own friends had 

 taken his handkerchief in jest, did not think proper to appear, and he 

 was accordingly dismissed, with an insolent congratulation from the 

 magistrate on his narrow escape from transportation. But though the 

 spectators considered him the more guilty from his happily escaping all 

 proof of his guilt, our noble and excellent law, generously acknowledg- 

 ing his innocence, fined him for it the sum of one shilling, and with 

 reluctance dismissed him from her close embrace. 



When, late in the day, he returned home in considerable discomfort, 

 but with some satisfaction at the prospect of relief, he was surprised to 

 find the house completely closed, and impregnable to his attacks. 

 However, the sound he created drew together some of the neighbours, 

 who talked a great deal, and disputed for an hour whether it was a 

 hanging matter to break open a house. In the end, Maurice himself 

 forced an entrance, and was astonished to find no traces of inhabitants 

 or of furniture, nor even a single relic of his own possessions. It 

 appeared that the tenants had packed up and departed quietly in the 

 night ; but the neighbours were too much used to such occurrences to 

 exhibit the smallest surprise or disapprobation ; and, with the exception 

 of one man, who loudly execrated their conduct, and carried off two 

 bell ropes, lest they should be stolen by any one else, they all departed 

 in peaceable horror at the idea of interference. 



The loss of his wardrobe was of little consequence to Maurice com- 

 pared with that of his hundred pounds, which he had left, as he 

 thought, perfectly secure in a very curiously constructed drawer of his 

 writing-desk, not at all considering that the desk, drawer and all, might 

 be carried off at one fell swoop. Overwhelmed with distress and per- 

 plexity, and knowing of no friend to whom he might apply for counsel, 

 he resolved to have recourse to the advice of his fellow clerks, but on 

 arriving at the office, he found every thing in extreme confusion, and in 

 answer to his oft-repeated inquiries, was informed that one of the part- 

 ners had left the country without notice, that it was up with the concern, 

 and that all connected with it must begin life afresh, each as he could. 



This was too much, and Maurice almost sank under a blow, which 

 seemed equivalent to absolute beggary. He advertised in the news- 

 papers, and generally found his half-guinea statement crowded into a 

 supplementary sheet, amidst columns of applications from young men, 

 who seemed to have every possible merit, and yet in many instances 

 were contented with mere nominal salaries, or anxious only for employ- 

 ment. Finding these methods wholly ineffectual, he had recourse to 

 personal applications, but generally met with so much cruelty and ridi- 

 cule, that he considered himself happy in a civil repulse. At length, 

 however, he was so fortunate as to procure the office of shopman at a 

 haberdasher's, and continued in it for three months, very wretched, and 

 very hard- worked, till being unjustly suspected of secreting a parcel, 

 he was dismissed without payment of his salary, and threatened with the 

 infliction of that admirable English justice, which is always more ready 

 to hang an innocent man, than a known murderer whose name has been 

 misspelt in the indictment. 



In this state of things he found, as if by a strange fatality, several 

 situations vacant ; but the inquiry as to his character was always fatal. 



