CHAPTER I
In the autumn month of September, eighteen hundred and fifty-seven,
wherein these presents bear date, two idle apprentices, exhausted by the
long, hot summer, and the long, hot work it had brought with it, ran away
from their employer. They were bound to a highly meritorious lady
(named Literature), of fair credit and repute, though, it must be
acknowledged, not quite so highly esteemed in the City as she might be.
This is the more remarkable, as there is nothing against the respectable
lady in that quarter, but quite the contrary; her family having rendered
eminent service to many famous citizens of London.