He had a thick skin, and fair hair and bright eyes and broad shoulders,
and the jolly gaiety of his disposition developed daily. He did not
shine at the school; he failed to fulfil the rosy promise of the
scholarship; but he was not stupider than the majority; and his opinion
of himself, having once risen, remained at "set fair." It was
inconceivable that he should work in clay with his hands.
II
When he was sixteen his mother, by operations [**words missing in
original] a yard and a half of Brussels point lace, put [**words missing
in original] Emery under an obligation. Mrs Emery [**words missing in
original] the sister of Mr Duncalf. Mr Duncalf was town Clerk of
Bursley, and a solicitor. It is well known that all bureaucracies are
honey-combed with intrigue. Denry Machin left school to be clerk to Mr
Duncalf, on the condition that within a year he should be able to write
shorthand at the rate of a hundred and fifty words a minute. In those
days mediocre and incorrect shorthand was not a drug on the market. He
complied (more or less, and decidedly less than more) with the
condition. And for several years he really thought that he had nothing
further to hope for.
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