Immediately after his breakfast he went downstairs and tapped at the door
of Mr. Suggs' sitting-room.
'What is it?' asked the bookbinder, who was eating his fourth large rasher,
and spoke with his mouth full.
'Sir, I beg leave of absence for an hour or two this morning. Business of
some moment demands my attention.'
Mr. Suggs answered, with the grace natural to his order, 'I s'pose you can
do as you like. I don't pay you nothing.'
The other bowed and withdrew.
Two days later he again penned a letter to Mrs. Weare. It ran thus:--
'The money which you so kindly sent, and which I have already
acknowledged, has now been distributed. To ensure a proper use of it,
I handed the cheque, with clear instructions, to a clergyman in this
neighbourhood, who has been so good as to jot down, on the sheet
enclosed, a memorandum of his beneficiaries, which I trust will be
satisfactory and gratifying to you.
'But why, you will ask, did I have recourse to a clergyman. Why did I
not use my own experience, and give myself the pleasure of helping
poor souls in whom I have a personal interest--I who have devoted my
life to this mission of mercy?
'The answer is brief and plain.
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