And then he thought of the various advantages still possessed by
gentlefolk. How unfairly easy is the struggle of life made for them,
in spite of all the talk about equality; how difficult it still is for
the humbly-born, in spite of Magna Chartas, habeas corpuses, and
Houses of Commons! Finishing his long ramble, he remembered the
biggest and grandest gentleman of his acquaintance, and wondered
bitterly if the Right Honorable Everard Barradine had done so much as
to raise a little finger on his behalf.
Five days had passed, and as yet not a single official at St.
Martin's-le-Grand had learnt to know him by sight. Every morning he
was forced to repeat the whole process of self-introduction.
"Dale? Rodchurch, Hants. Let's see. What name did you say? Dale!
Superseded--eh?"
But on the sixth morning somebody knew all about him. It was quite a
superior sort of clerk, who announced that Mr. Dale and all that
concerned Mr. Dale had been transferred to other hands, in another
part of the building. Dale gathered that something had happened to his
case; it was as though, after lying dormant so long, it had
unexpectedly come to life; and in less than ten minutes he was given a
definite appointment. The interview would take place at noon on the
day after to-morrow.
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