ded at once to
Lewis's office. Seating himself on one side of the table with his
lordship on the other, Lewis handed to him the bills one by one and
requested him to set aside those that were forged.

The separation having been made, it appeared that over _twenty
thousand-pounds' worth of the bills were forged_! The noble lord was a
little startled at the discovery, but his mind was soon eased by Lewis
putting the whole of the forged bills into the fire.

"There's an end of them, my lord," said he. "We want no prosecution,
and I do not wish to receive payment from you. I ought to have
examined them with more care, and you ought not to have left space
enough before the first figure to supplement it by another. The rogue
could not resist the temptation."

So ended this monetary transaction, creditable alike to the honour and
generosity of the money-lender.

The most steady of minds will sometimes go on the tramp. This was
never better illustrated than when the young curate was being married,
and the officiating clergyman asked him the formal question, "Wilt
thou have this woman to thy wedded wife?"

The poor bridegroom, losing self-control, and not having yet a better
half to keep him straight, answered, "That is my desire," anticipating
by a considerable period a totally different religious ceremony of the
Church--namely, the Baptism of Infants. In his anticipation the young
man had overreached the necessities of the situation.

This momentary digression leads me to the following story. I was
staying at the house of an old friend, a wealthy Hebrew, while another
of the guests was Arthur A'Becket. As will sometimes happen when
you are in good spirits, the conversation took a religious turn. We
drifted into it unconsciously, and our worthy host was telling us
that he was in the habit of praying night and morning. Being in a
communicative mood, I said, "Well, since you name it, I sometimes say
a little prayer myself." The Hebrew was attentive, and seemed not a
little surprised. "This is especially the case in the morning," I
added. "But once upon a time my mind wavered a little between business
and prayer, and I found myself in the midst of my devotional exercise
saying, 'Gentlemen of the jury.'"

"Thank God!" cried A'Becket, "our friend Hawkins is not a Unitarian."

I often wonder how I was able to get through the amount of business
that pressed upon me and retain my health, but happily I did so. One
great factor