stle could not have
been more characteristic of its sender. Meanly elliptical, ludicrously
precise, saving half-pence at the expense of sense, yet paying like a
man for "Mr." Maturin, that was my distinguished relative from his
bald patch to his corns. Nor was all the rest unlike him, upon second
thoughts. He had a reputation for charity; he was going to live up to
it after all. Either that, or it was the sudden impulse of which the
most calculating are capable at times; the morning papers with the
early cup of tea, this advertisement seen by chance, and the rest upon
the spur of a guilty conscience.

Well, I must see it for myself, and the sooner the better, though work
pressed. I was writing a series of articles upon prison life, and had
my nib into the whole System; a literary and philanthropical daily was
parading my "charges," the graver ones with the more gusto; and the
terms, if unhandsome for creative work, were temporary wealth to me.
It so happened that my first check had just arrived by the eight
o'clock post; and my position should be appreciated when I say that I
had to cash it to obtain a Daily Mail.

Of the advertisement itself, what is to be said? It should speak for
itself if I could find it, but I cannot, and only remember that it was
a "male nurse and constant attendant" that was "wanted for an elderly
gentleman in feeble health." A male nurse! An absurd tag was
appended, offering "liberal salary to University or public-school man";
and of a sudden I saw that I should get this thing if I applied for it.
What other "University or public-school man" would dream of doing so?
Was any other in such straits as I? And then my relenting relative; he
not only promised to speak for me, but was the very man to do so.
Could any recommendation compete with his in the matter of a male
nurse? And need the duties of such be necessarily loathsome and
repellent? Certainly the surroundings would be better than those of my
common lodging-house and own particular garret; and the food; and every
other condition of life that I could think of on my way back to that
unsavory asylum. So I dived into a pawnbroker's shop, where I was a
stranger only upon my present errand, and within the hour was airing a
decent if antiquated suit, but little corrupted by the pawnbroker's
moth, and a new straw hat, on the top of a tram.

The address given in the advertisement was that of a flat at Earl's
Court, which cost