THE POST OFFICE. 251 



A., then, posts his letter for B. at nine o'clock on 

 Monday morning in the St. Albans Post Office, where 

 it reposes in a state of quietude until about four 

 o'clock on Tuesday morning, when the Holyhead, 

 or one of the North mails, takes it up to St. Martin's 

 le Grand, whether it further remains in a state of rest 

 until eight o'clock that night, when the Norwich 

 mail takes it down to Brentwood, which it reaches 

 about ten o'clock at night, and is delivered to B. 

 on the Wednesday morning. In order not to lose 

 any time, and perhaps not being perfectly acquainted 

 with all the minutiae of Post-Office arrangements, 

 B. posts his reply on Wednesday morning at ten 

 o'clock. It remains, however, in the Brentwood 

 Post-Office untU. the Norwich mail, coming up about 

 four o'clock on Thursday morning, conveys it, after a 

 rest of about eighteen hours, to the General Post 

 Office, which it reaches about six o'clock. 



A further period of repose here ensues, as the letter 

 lies at St. Martin's le Grand until eight o'clock on the 

 Thursday evening, when one of the North-country 

 mails, going through St. Albans, will drop it there a 

 little after ten, when, after a quiet night's rest 

 in St. Albans Post Office, it is delivered there to A. 

 between eight and nin€ o'clock on Friday morning, 

 being the fifth day after the correspondence had 

 commenced. Had it happened, however, to begin 



