He was a very nice-looking young man, tall and well shaped, with a fair skin and jolly blue eyes--in short, a typical young Englishman of the better sort, aetate suo twenty-four.

I have said that he came slowly in, but that scarcely conveys the gay and _degage_ air of independence which pervaded this young man, and which would certainly have struck any observer as little short of shocking, when contrasted with the worm-like attitude of those who crept round the feet of Meeson.

This young man had not, indeed, even taken the trouble to remove his hat, which was stuck upon the back of his head, his hands were in his pockets, a sacrilegious whistle hovered on his lips, and he opened the door of the sanctum sanctorum of the Meeson establishment _with a kick_! "How do, uncle ?" he said to the Commercial Terror, who was sitting there behind his formidable books, addressing him even as though he were an ordinary man.

"Why, what's up ?" Just then, however, he caught sight of the very handsome young lady who was seated in the office, and his whole demeanour underwent a most remarkable change; out came the hands from his pockets, off went the hat, and, turning, he bowed, really rather nicely, considering how impromptu the whole performance was.
"What is it, Eustace ?" asked Mr.Meeson, sharply.
"Oh, nothing, uncle; nothing--it can bide," and, without waiting for an invitation, he took a chair, and sat down in such a position that he could see Miss Smithers without being seen of his uncle.
"I was saying, Miss Smithers, or rather, I was going to say," went on the elder Meeson, "that, in short, I do not in the least understand what you can mean.

You will remember that you were paid a sum of fifty pounds for the copyright of 'Jemima's Vow.'" "Great Heavens!" murmured Master Eustace, behind; "what a do!" "At the time an alternative agreement, offering you seven per cent on the published price of the book, was submitted to you, and, had you accepted it, you would, doubtless, have realized a larger sum," and Mr.Meeson contracted his hairy eyebrows and gazed at the poor girl in a way that was, to say the least, alarming.