THE WASTE. 7 



mises and vows made from my youth up, and take 

 it in hand that is, in a bailiff's hand, which certain 

 foregone experiences had led me to conceive was of 

 all things in the world the most out of hand, if that 

 may be called so which empties the hand and the 

 pocket too ! Such seemed the only alternative : at 

 first it was an impossibility then an improbability, 

 and then as the ear of bearded corn wins its 

 forbidden way up the schoolboy's sleeve, and gains 

 a point in advance by every effort to stop or expel 

 it, sc did every determination, every reflection coun- 

 teract the very purpose it was summoned to oppose ; 

 and, in short, one fine morning I almost jumped 

 a yard backward at seeing my own name on a 

 wagon ! 



A Sketch introductory. 



