CHAPTER I 



MR. JORROCKS 



'A man he was to all the country dear.' 



WHERE can that be from, Binjimin?' 

 inquired Mr. Jorrocks of his boy of all 

 work, as the latter presented him with 

 a large double-headed letter, with a flourishing 

 coat of arms seal. 



Mr. Jorrocks was a great city grocer of the old 

 school, one who was neither ashamed of his trade, 

 nor of carrying it on in a dingy warehouse that 

 would shock the managers of the fine mahogany- 

 countered, gilt-canistered, puffing, poet-keeping 

 establishments of modern times. He had been 

 in business long enough to remember each suc- 

 ceeding lord mayor before he was anybody 

 'reg'lar little tuppences in fact,' as he used to 

 say. Not that Mr. Jorrocks decried the dignity 



A 1 



