It seemed as though fate could do nothing with Mr. Farmiloe.  At six-and-thirty he suffered the shock of learning that a relative—­an old woman to whom he had occasionally written as a matter of kindness (Farmiloe could do such things)—­had left him by will the sum of L600.  It was strictly a shock; it upset his health for several days, and not for a week or two could he realise the legacy as a fact.  Just when he was beginning to look about him with a new air of confidence, the solicitors who were managing the little affair for him drily acquainted him with the fact that his relative’s will was contested by other kinsfolk whom the old woman had passed over, on the ground that she was imbecile and incapable of conducting her affairs.  There followed a law-suit, which consumed many months and cost a good deal of money; so that, though he won his case, Mr. Farmiloe lost all satisfaction in his improved circumstances, and was only more embittered against the world at large.

Then, no sooner had he purchased his business, than he learnt from smiling neighbours that he had paid considerably too much for it.  His predecessor, beyond a doubt, would have taken very much less; had, indeed, been on the point of doing so just when Mr. Farmiloe appeared.  This kind of experience is a trial to any man.  It threw Mr. Farmiloe into a silent rage, with the result that two or three customers who chanced to enter his shop declared that they would never have anything more to do with such a surly creature.

And now began his torment—­a form of exasperation peculiar to his dual capacity of shopkeeper and manager of a post-office.  All day long he stood on the watch for customers—­literally stood, now behind the counter, now in front of it, his eager and angry eyes turning to the door whenever the steps of a passer-by sounded without.  If the door opened his nerves began to tingle, and he straightened himself like a soldier at attention.  For a moment he suffered an agony of doubt.  Would the person entering turn to the counter or to the post-office?  And seldom was his hope fulfilled; not one in four of the people who came in was a genuine customer; the post-office, always the post-office.  A stamp, a card, a newspaper wrapper, a postal-order, a letter to be registered—­anything but an honest purchase across the counter or the blessed tendering of a prescription to make up.  From vexation he passed to annoyance, to rage, to fury; he cursed the post-office, and committed to eternal perdition the man who had waxed eloquent upon its advantages.

Of course, he had hired an errand-boy, and never had errand-boy so little legitimate occupation.  Resolved not to pay him for nothing, Mr. Farmiloe kept him cleaning windows, washing bottles, and the like, until the lad fairly broke into rebellion.  If this was the sort of work he was engaged for he must have higher wages; he wasn’t over strong and his mother said he must lead an open-air life—­that