Our Odd-men 



office, and part with all the old servants who 

 had lived about him so long. 



In the thick of my hard-working life and 

 its manifold new interests and anxieties, I 

 lost touch with the old set for many a day, 

 and I did not know what had become of 

 Sprightly till I heard of his death. He had 

 gone very much to the bad, they said. 



I think he was at once the most gro- 

 tesque and the most pathetic figure that 

 ever crossed the little stage of my life, and 

 I do not expect ever to meet with the like 

 of him again. For he was a rare creature, 

 and the queerest mingle of qualities : strong 

 as a lion, tender as a woman, rude as a bear, 

 forgiving as a dog, and as dissolute as any 

 man in England, — poor old Sprightly! 



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