406 DEATH IN ITS RESULTS. 



village, in a humble cottage not far from her accustomed home, 

 of which the clustered chimneys, inclusive of her own, the 

 chimney of the kitchen, would be at least within her daily 

 sight. Caleb also had his hoardings, bigger ones, we suspect, 

 than those of his open-hearted fellow servant ; but he did not 

 seem disposed, like her, to commence housekeeping on his 

 own account. Time was when it would have been no greater 

 miracle for his late master's library chair the poet's chair 

 to have walked from its place, than for Mr. Caligraph to have 

 expressed a wish to leave the old house or his accustomed 

 haunts and avocations ; but both place and occupation were 

 leaving him, and since the evening of the apparition even the 

 house had not seemed the same to Caleb, or he to the house. 



One day that my father happened to speak in his hearing 

 of having lost a confidential clerk, the ci-devant writing-master 

 and butler proposed himself to fill the vacancy, an offer which, 

 on account of his long services and strict integrity, was not 

 refused. For myself, all college prospects and collegiate 

 honours melted into air ; I could only acquiesce passively in 

 my father's purpose of devoting me to the drudgery of the desk 

 in a friend's counting-house, where he could almost reckon on 

 my elevation to a high stool. And last, not least, for Lucy. 

 My father proposed (what could he do less ?) to make the 

 penniless orphan child a member of his family his large 

 family which he could even now barely manage to support. 

 The plan was a tempting one to me. We should not then 



