The Argosy, Vol. XXIV, No. 1 — page 167: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

LIVING IT DOWN. 167 His first half sovereign went in a deed of mercy. Little Annie lay dead in her bed the night it arrived. Jeffreys, that morning, before he started to work, had watched the little spark of life flicker for the last time and go out. The mother, worn out by her constant vigils, lay ill beside her dead child. The father, a drunkard, out of work, deserted the place, and the two other children, the baby, and the sister scarcely more than baby, wailed all day for cold and hunger. What could he do but devote the first fruits of his pen to these companions in distress? The half sovereign sufficed for the child’s funeral, with a little over for the sick mother. And for the rest, he took the baby to his own garret for a night or two, and tended it there as best he could. The two fresh letters to the paper in due time brought a sovereign ; but at the same time a chilling notification to the effect that the editor did not need further contributions, and would let Mr. John know if at any future time he required his services. It was the abrupt closing of one door of promise. Still Jeffreys, with hope big within him, did not sit and fret. Literary work might yet be had, and meanwhile bodily labor must be endured. Towards the beginning of December, any one taking up one of the London penny papers might have observed, had he been given to the study of such matters, three advertisements. Here they are in their proper order: SHOULD this meet the eye of John Jeffreys, late private secretary to a gentleman in Cumberland, he is earnestly requested to communicate with his friend and late em- ployer. Readers of the agony column were getting tired of this advertisement. It had appeared once a week for the last six mouths, and was getting stale by this time. | The next advertisement was more recent, but still a trifle dull: GERRARD FORRESTER.—If Gerrard Forrester (son of the late Captain Forrester, of the—Hussars), who was last heard of at Bolsover School, in October, r8—, where he met with a serious accident, should see this, he is requested to communicate with Messrs. - Wilkins and Wilkins, Solicitors, Blank Street, W. C., from whom he will hear something to his advantage. Any person able to give satisfactory information leading to the dis- covery of the said Gerrard Forrester, or, in the event of his death, producing evidence of his decease, will be liberally rewarded. The third advertisement, in another column, appeared now: for the first time : A YOUNG man, well educated, and a careful student of Bibliography, is anxious for literary work. Searches made and extracts copied.—Apply, J., 28a, Storr Alley, W. C. It would have puzzled any ordinary observer to detect in these thrée ap- peals anything to connect them together. Jeffreys, however, glancing down the columns of the borrowed paper for a sight of his own advertisement, started and turned pale as his eye fell first on his own name, then» on Forrester’ s. It was like a conspiracy to bewilder and baffle him at the moment when hope seemed to be returning. He had convinced himself that his one chance was to break with every tie which bound him to his old life, and to start DOOKS =} a (CO) S|