re even paid until the day of his death. It is
not surprising, in view of these facts, that Gordon remained a poor
man, and generally had no money at all. As he wrote very truly of
himself to his assistant Mr Lilley, "You and I will never learn wisdom
in money matters."

Many stories have been told of his tenderness of heart, and of his
reluctance to see punishment inflicted, but perhaps the following is
the most typical. A woman called on him one day with a piteous tale.
Gordon went to his bedroom to get half a sovereign for her, and while
he was away she took a fancy to a brown overcoat, which she hastened
to conceal under her skirt. Gordon returned, gave her the money, and
she left with a profusion of thanks. While on her road home the coat
slipped down, and attracted the notice of a policeman, who demanded an
explanation. She said, "I took it from the Colonel," and was marched
back for him to identify his property, and charge her with the theft.
When Gordon heard the story, he was far more distressed than the
culprit, and refused to comply with the constable's repeated requests
to charge her. At last a happy thought came to his relief. Turning to
the woman, he said, with a twinkle in his eye, "You wanted it, I
suppose?" "Yes," replied the astonished woman. Then turning to the
equally astonished policeman he said, "There, there, take her away,
and send her about her business."

Among the various economies he practised in order to indulge his
philanthropy was that of not keeping a horse, and he consequently took
a great deal of walking exercise. During his walks along the Kentish
lanes and foot-paths he distributed tracts, and at every stile he
crossed he would leave one having such an exhortation as "Take heed
that thou stumbleth not." Yet all this was done in an honest, and, as
I believe, a secretly humorous spirit of a serious nature, for Gordon
was as opposed to cant and idle protestations as any man. There is a
strikingly characteristic story preserved somewhere of what he did
when a hypocritical, canting humbug of a local religious secretary of
some Society Fund or other paid a visit to a house while he was
present. Gordon remained silent during the whole of the interview. But
when he was gone, and Gordon was asked what he thought of him, he
replied by waving his hand and drawing it across his throat, which he
explained signified in China that his head ought to be cut off as a
humbugging impostor.

Although