ry kind of you. But for your interference in this affair I am
convinced that I should have lost a thousand pounds, if not more."

"Indeed!" exclaimed the old gentleman with a bright smile, "come, I'm
glad to hear you say so, and it makes my second errand all the more
easy."

"And what may your second errand be?" said Denham, with a sudden gravity
of countenance, which showed that he more than suspected it.

"Well, the fact is," began Summers, "it's a little matter of begging
that I have undertaken for the purpose of raising funds to establish one
or two lifeboats on parts of our coast where they are very much needed.
(Denham fidgeted in his chair.) You know I have a villa near Deal, and
frequently witness the terrible scenes of shipwreck that are so common
and so fatal on that coast. I am sorry to say that my begging
expedition has not been attended with so much success as I had
anticipated. It is not such agreeable work as one might suppose, I
assure you, one gets so many unexpected rebuffs. Did you ever try
begging, Denham?"

Denham said he never had, and, unless reduced to it by circumstances,
did not mean to do so!

"Ah," continued Mr Summers, "if you ever do try you'll be surprised to
find how difficult it is to screw money out of some people." (Mr
Denham thought that that difficulty would not surprise him at all.) "But
you'll be delighted to find, on the other hand, what a number of truly
liberal souls there are. It's quite a treat, for instance, to meet with
a man,--as I did the other day,--who gives his charity in the light of
such principles as these:--`The Lord loveth a cheerful giver;' `It is
more blessed to give than to receive;' `He that giveth to the poor
lendeth to the Lord,'--one who lays aside a certain proportion of his
income for charitable purposes, and who, therefore, knowing exactly how
much he has to give at any moment, gives or refuses, as the case may be,
promptly and with a good grace."

"Ha!" exclaimed Denham, whose soul abhorred this sort of talk, but whose
self-interest compelled him to listen to it.

"Really," pursued Mr Summers, "it is quite interesting to study the
outs and ins of Christian philanthropy. Have you ever given much
attention to the subject, Mr Denham? Of course, I mean in a
philosophical way."

"Ha a-hem! well, I cannot say that I have, except perhaps in my capacity
of a poor-law guardian in this district of the city."

"Indeed, I would recommend it to yo