Both the gentlemen were desirous of doing business, for business had been very slack lately: neither wished to refuse a possible customer, or to offend Mr. Pettitt, the manager of the North-Western, who had recommended them to the Prince.

Mr. Vassall offered to go round to the hotel and interview Mr. Pettitt.

Mr. Pettitt was in the hall when he left, and he asked him something about business.

Can I see Mr. Pettitt?' "'Certainly, sir.' "Mr. Pettitt, the manager of the hotel, shared Mr. Vassall's anxiety, immediately he heard that the young German had not yet returned home.

Can I see Mr. Pettitt?' "'Certainly, sir.' "Mr. Pettitt, the manager of the hotel, shared Mr. Vassall's anxiety, immediately he heard that the young German had not yet returned home.

"Apparently somewhat reassured, Mr. Vassall thanked Mr. Pettitt and hurried back to the shop, only to find that Mr. Schwarz had not returned, though it was now close on eight o'clock.

In the hall he saw and spoke to Mr. Pettitt, and then he went out into the street.

Ch., 6.38; S.R. Pettitt, 2 8.38 Tabor.

"I shall write and ask Mr. Venn," gasped Cecil; but her husband stifled the sound by saying, "I saw little Pettitt, Julius, this afternoon, overwhelmed with gratitude to you for all the care you took of his old mother, and all his waxen busts.

" "Where was Pettitt himself?" "Well employed, poor little fellow, saving the people in those three cottages of his.

I never knew Pettitt had a mother till I found her mounting guard, like one distracted, over her son's bottles of perfumery.

" "Pettitt is a queer little fellow," said Herbert.

Little Pettitt, the hair- dresser, has some ground there, and he is the most intelligent of the tradesmen.

They went first to Pettitt's, the little hair-dresser, where Tom was marvellously taken with the two Penates, and could hardly be dragged into the innermost recesses, where in the middle of a sheet, with a peignoir on his shoulders, he submitted to the clipping of his raven-black locks, as Mr. Pettitt called them, on the condition of his sister looking on.

They went first to Pettitt's, the little hair-dresser, where Tom was marvellously taken with the two Penates, and could hardly be dragged into the innermost recesses, where in the middle of a sheet, with a peignoir on his shoulders, he submitted to the clipping of his raven-black locks, as Mr. Pettitt called them, on the condition of his sister looking on.

Just then Tom, looking highly amused, emerged, followed by Mr. Pettitt, the only enlightened landlord on whom Mrs. Duncombe had been able to produce the slightest impression.

But no; on the board were two heads, ideals of male and female beauty, one with a waxed moustache, the other with a huge chignon, vividly recalling Mr. Pettitt's Penates.

Bessie Duncombe expressed a bold practical determination to get one fragment, at least, of the work done, since she knew Pettitt, the hair-dresser, was public-spirited enough to allow her to carry out her ideas on his property, and Cecil, with her ample allowance, as yet uncalled for, in the abundance of her trousseau, promised to supply what the hair-dresser could not advance, as a tangible proof of her sincerity.

The widow lived in one of the tenements which Pettitt had renovated under her guidance, and on a loan advanced by Cecil, and she was proud of her work.

"Not a man would stir in the business except Pettitt, who left it all to me.

But it does seem as if the water at the well at Pettitt's houses had done much of the harm.

The focus of the disease was in Pettitt's well.

Odours there had been in plenty from the untouched drainage of the other houses, and these, no doubt, enhanced the evil; but every one agreed that the bad management of the drains on Mr. Pettitt's property had been the main agency in the present outbreak.

Was it that well of Pettitt's?

"Then it was Pettitt's well?"