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contrived to give them a wide-birth, as the sailors term it, and their chambers being on the first floor, it was not likely that I should be observed, who was so much below them, and surrounded by numbers of persons continually passing. It happened, however, that my way to and from the office, lay through a narrow passage called Mitre Court, leading into Fleet Street. In this passage I frequently encountered a young man having the appearance of a lawyer's clerk, whose face I thought I was familiar with; and he, on his part, always looked earnestly at me. As this was by no means uncommon amongst young men similarly employed, I concluded he had known me by sight, during my service, in a former office, and therefore paid no attention to the circumstance.
One morning, about nine weeks after my return from Bury, I entered the office at the usual hour, and I had scarcely taken my seat at the desk, when Mr. Preston opening the door of His own apartment, which was immediately adjoining that in which the clerks wrote, desired me to step into his room, which I should not have thought extraordinary, had not he at the same moment placed himself between me and the outer door leading to the street, and made a motion with his hand for me to walk in first: I had, therefore, no alternative, but entered the room. Mr. Preston followed, and, immediately shutting; the door, locked it after him; upon which
