appointed Mr Christian, who sneered at Scales about his
get-up, having to walk back to the house with only one tail to his coat, was a
source of so much enjoyment to the butler, that the fair Cherry began to be
quite jealous of the joke. Still she admitted that it really was funny, tittered
intermittently, and pledged herself to secrecy. Mr Scales explained to her that
Christian would try to creep in unobserved, but that this must be made
impossible; and he requested her to imagine the figure this interloping fellow
would cut when everybody was asking what had happened. »Hallo, Christian!
where's your coat-tail?« would become a proverb at the Manor, where jokes kept
remarkably well without the aid of salt; and Mr Christian's comb would be cut so
effectually that it would take a long time to grow again. Exit Scales, laughing,
and presenting a fine example of dramatic irony to any one in the secret of
Fate.
    When Christian awoke, he was shocked to find himself in the twilight. He
started up, shook himself, missed something, and soon became aware what it was
he missed. He did not doubt that he had been robbed, and he at once foresaw that
the consequence would be highly unpleasant. In no way could the cause of the
accident be so represented to Mr Philip Debarry as to prevent him from viewing
his hitherto unimpeachable factotum in a new and unfavourable light. And though
Mr Christian did not regard his present position as brilliant, he did not see
his way to anything better. A man nearly fifty who is not always quite well is
seldom ardently hopeful: he is aware that this is a world in which merit is
often overlooked. With the idea of robbery in full possession of his mind, to
peer about and search in the dimness, even if it had occurred to him, would have
seemed a preposterous waste of time and energy. He knew it was likely that Mr
Debarry's pocket-book had important and valuable contents, and that he should
deepen his offence by deferring his announcement of the unfortunate fact. He
hastened back to the house, relieved by the obscurity from that mortification of
his vanity on which the butler had counted. Indeed, to Scales himself the affair
had already begun to appear less thoroughly jocose than he had anticipated. For
he observed that Christian's non-appearance before dinner had caused Mr Debarry
some consternation; and he gathered that the courier had been sent on a
commission to the rectory. »My uncle must have detained him for some reason or
other