He ceased to look at me with sharp, suspicious glances, and he seemed anxious to afford me all the help he could.

"Was Christian Meynell's father called William ?" I asked, after having paused to make some notes in my pocket-book.
"That I can't tell you; though, if Christian Meynell was living to-day, he wouldn't be ten years older than me.

His father died when I was quite a boy; but there must be old books at the warehouse with his name in them, if they haven't been destroyed." I determined to make inquiries at the carpet warehouse; but I had little hope of finding the books of nearly a century gone by.

I tried another question.
"Do you know whether Christian Meynell was an only son, or the only son who attained manhood ?" I asked.
My elderly friend shook his head.
"Christian Meynell never had any brothers that I heard of," he said; "but the parish register will tell you all about that, supposing that his father before him lived all his life in Aldersgate-street, as I've every reason to believe he did." After this I asked a few questions about the neighbouring churches, thanked Mr.Grewter for his civility, and departed.
I went back to Omega-street, dined upon nothing particular, and devoted the rest of my evening to the scrawling of this journal, and a tender reverie, in which Charlotte Halliday was the central figure.
How bitter poverty and dependence have made Diana Paget! She used to be a nice girl too.
_Oct.16th_.

To-day's work has been confined to the investigation of parish registers--a most wearisome business at the best.