enses than one." He also stated
that he had made a small fortune by speculating in town-lots, and,
hearing that Hankin was alive, he was prepared to send him any further
sum of money that might be necessary to secure him a comfortable old
age. Major ---- died last year, and left by his will the sum of L300 in
Consols to the Rector and churchwardens of Deadborough, the interest to
be expended annually at Christmas in providing boots and shoes for the
poor of the parish.

In the matter of trade Hankin was prosperous, and fully deserved his
prosperity. He has been dead four years, and I am wearing at this moment
almost the last pair of boots he ever made. His materials were the best
that could be procured, and his workmanship was admirable. His customers
were largely the well-to-do people of the neighbourhood, and his
standard price for walking-boots was thirty-three shillings. He was by
no means incapable of the higher refinements of "style," so that great
people like Lady Passingham or Captain Sorley were often heard to say
that they preferred his goods to those of Bond Street. He did a large
business in building shooting-boots for the numerous parties which
gathered at Deadborough Hall; his customers recommended him in the
London clubs, where such things are talked of, and he received orders
from all parts of the country and at all times of the year. He might, no
doubt, have made his fortune. But he would have no assistance save that
of his two sons. He lived for thirty-seven years in the house from which
Shott had sought to expel him, refusing all orders which exceeded the
limited working forces at his command. He chartered the corns on many
noble feet; he measured the gouty toe of a Duke to the fraction of a
millimetre, and made a contour map of all its elevations from the main
peak to the foot-hills; and it was said that a still more Exalted
Personage occasionally walked on leather of his providing.

Hankin neglected nothing which might contribute to the success of his
work, and applied himself to its principles with the same thoroughness
which distinguished his handling of the Utilitarian Standard. One of his
sons had emigrated to the United States and become, in course of time,
the manager of a large boot factory in Brockton, Mass. From him Hankin
received patterns and lasts and occasional consignments of American
leather. This latter he was inclined, in general, to despise.
Nevertheless, it had its uses. He found