"It was Tavistock Square. The winds of March and the showers of April had been successful in producing the buds of May."
'Ah, Charley, that's taken from the old song,' said Katie, 'only you've put buds instead of flowers.'
'That's quite allowable,' said Mrs. Woodward—"successful in producing the buds of May. The sparrows chirped sweetly on the house-top, and the coming summer gladdened the hearts of all—of all except poor Crinoline.
"'I wonder whether he has a heart, said she; 'and if he has, I wonder whether it is at his office.'
"As she thus soliloquized, the door was opened by a youthful page, on whose well-formed breast, buttons seemed to grow like mushrooms in the meadows in August.
"'Mr. Macassar Jones,' said the page; and having so said, he discreetly disappeared. He was in his line of life a valuable member of society. He had brought from his last place a twelvemonth's character that was creditable alike to his head and heart; he was now found to be a trustworthy assistant in the household of the Lady Crinoline's mother, and was the delight of his aged parents, to whom he regularly remitted no inconsiderable portion of his wages. Let it always be remembered that the life even of a page may be glorious. All honour to the true and brave!"
'Goodness, Charley—how very moral you are!' said Linda.
'Yes,' said he; 'that's indispensable. It's the intention of the Daily Delight always to hold up a career of virtue to the lower orders as the thing that pays. Honesty, high wages, and hot dinners. Those are our principles.'
'You'll have a deal to do before you'll bring the lower orders to agree with you,' said Uncle Bat.
'We have a deal to do,' said Charley, 'and we'll do it. The power of the cheap press is unbounded.'