More fortunate than many, his disinterested willingness recommended him from the first.
During the ensuing four years he was never out of employment.

He neither advanced nor receded in the modern sense; he improved as a workman, but he did not shift one jot in social position.

About his love for Car'line he maintained a rigid silence.

No doubt he often thought of her; but being always occupied, and having no relations at Stickleford, he held no communication with that part of the country, and showed no desire to return.

In his quiet lodging in Lambeth he moved about after working- hours with the facility of a woman, doing his own cooking, attending to his stocking-heels, and shaping himself by degrees to a life-long bachelorhood.