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perturbed. A lodger, getting wind of the handling 

 of the balance, suspected fraud. He communicated 

 with the police, and the village constable soon made 

 his appearance, announcing his intention of remain- 

 ing in the post-office as long as the clerk did. ' Then,' 

 said the latter, ' as I have taken rooms here, you will 

 probably have to stop for three or four months.' 

 ' Indeed !' replied the constable. ' Well, as you say 

 you are on Her Majesty's service, and are lodging 

 here, I suppose it is all right ; but I made sure, the 

 moment I saw you, you were one of the gang of 

 thieves now engaged in robbing post-offices.' 



One of Hill's considerable achievements, which he 

 could hardly have ventured upon had mail-coaches 

 been his sole resource for the conveyance of low- 

 priced postal packets, was the establishment of the 

 book post. 



It is not clear to me how so logical a mind as his 

 satisfied itself of the equity of rendering, at a low 

 charge, for one kind of postal article, precisely the 

 same service for which it claimed a higher charge 

 when it was required for another kind. But saving 

 clauses, such as providing that the ends of the cheap 

 post packets should be left open, and retaining 

 power (never exercised, to the best of my knowledge) 

 of delaying them in the post-office, perhaps recon- 

 ciled the reformer to a departure from uniformity of 

 charge. 



Of the value, however, of the boon conferred by 

 this beneficent measure on readers, writers, printers, 



