"Anything new in the City, Sid?" asked the father.
"No, nothing new," he replied. "What makes you home so early to-day?"
Sid had turned in before the daylight was over, and found his father walking up and down the room with his hands behind him.
"Early?" repeated the old man. "Oh! they're not particularly busy just now in the Bridge Road. Very slack, I may say."
"Ah! I suppose so," said Sid, absently.
"And there's nothing new at all then, Sid?"
"Nothing."
"You'll keep a stout heart, my boy," said the father, with a cheering voice, and yet with a lip that quivered in spite of him. "I suppose, now, you don't feel very dull?"
"Dull, with my wits about me, and a hundred chances, perhaps, waiting for me in the City to-morrow!"
"Yes, you'll have all day to-morrow—I had forgotten that," said Mr. Hinchford; "to be sure, all day now!"