THE

MAN WITHOUT A PROFESSION.

CHAPTER I.

"Now sit thee down, and tell me all this story;

And tell it not, I pray thee, as some do,
Who prate conceitedly more of themselves
Than of the subject matter of their tale,
But tell thy tale straight on; and bear in mind,
It is not of thyself that I would hear,
But of this child."

The LORD AND THE SERVING-MAN.

In the winter of 1803, a lady and gentleman sat by a cheerful fire in the old-fashioned library of a country house. The gentleman, who had rather a military air, had reached his fortieth year; the lady, who was still hand