The older clerk nods his head, and instantly resumes his writing.

The chair is old and hard--the stuffing compressed by a generation of weary suitors; there are two others at equal distances along the wall.

The only other furniture is a small but solid table, upon which stands a brass copying-press.

On the mantelpiece there are scales for letter-weighing, paper clips full of papers, a county Post-office directory, a railway time-table card nailed to the wall, and a box of paper-fasteners.

Over it is a map, dusty and dingy, of some estate laid out for building purposes, with a winding stream running through it, roads passing at right angles, and the points of the compass indicated in an upper corner.
On the other side of the room, by the window, a framed advertisement hangs against the wall, like a picture, setting forth the capital and reserve and the various advantages offered by an insurance company, for which the firm are the local agents.