Clara Hopgood

Mr Cohen, who had obtained the situation indirectly for Clara,

thought nothing more about it until, one day, he went to the shop,

and he then recollected his recommendation, which had been given

solely in faith, for he had never seen the young woman, and had

trusted entirely to Marshall. He found her at her dark desk, and as

he approached her, she hastily put a mark in a book and closed it.

'Have you sold a little volume called After Office Hours by a man

named Robinson?' 'I did not know we had it. I have never seen it.'

'I do not wonder, but I saw it here about six months ago; it was up

there,' pointing to a top shelf. Clara was about to mount the

ladder, but he stopped her, and found what he wanted. Some of the

leaves were torn.

'We can repair those for you; in about a couple of days it shall be

ready.' He lingered a little, and at that moment another customer entered.

Clara went forward to speak to him, and Cohen was able to see that it

was the Heroes and Hero Worship she had been studying, a course of

lectures which had been given by a Mr Carlyle, of whom Cohen knew

something. As the customer showed no signs of departing, Cohen left,

saying he would call again.

Before sending Robinson's After Office Hours to the binder, Clara

looked at it. It was made up of short essays, about twenty

altogether, bound in dark-green cloth, lettered at the side, and

published in 1841. They were upon the oddest subjects: such as,

Ought Children to learn Rules before Reasons? The Higher Mathematics

and Materialism. Ought We to tell Those Whom We love what We think

about Them? Deductive Reasoning in Politics. What Troubles ought We

to Make Known and What ought We to Keep Secret: Courage as a Science

and an Art.

Clara did not read any one essay through, she had no time, but she

was somewhat struck with a few sentences which caught her eye; for

example--'A mere dream, a vague hope, ought in some cases to be more

potent than a certainty in regulating our action. The faintest

vision of God should be more determinative than the grossest earthly

assurance.' 'I knew a case in which a man had to encounter three successive

trials of all the courage and inventive faculty in him. Failure in

one would have been ruin. The odds against him in each trial were

desperate, and against ultimate victory were overwhelming.

Nevertheless, he made the attempt, and was triumphant, by the

narrowest margin, in every struggle. That which is of most value to

us is often obtained in defiance of the laws of probability.'