Thomas Wingfold. Volume II by George MacDonald

But there was yet another class amongst those who on that second day / heard the curate testify what honestly he might, and no more, / concerning Jesus of Nazareth. So far as he learned, however, that / class consisted of one individual.

On the following Tuesday morning he went into the shop of the chief / linen-draper of Glaston, for he was going to a funeral, and wanted a / new pair of gloves that he might decline those which would be / offered him. A young woman waited on him, but Mr. Drew, seeing him / from the other end of the shop, came and took her place. When he was / fitted, had paid for his purchase, and was turning to take his / leave, the draper, with what appeared a resolution suddenly forced / from hesitation, leaned over the counter and said:

"Would you mind walking up stairs for a few minutes, sir? I ask it / as a great favour. I want very much to speak to you."

"I shall be most happy," answered Wingfold -- conventionally, it must / be allowed, for in reality he anticipated expostulation, and having / in his public ministrations to do his duty against his own grain, he / had no fancy for encountering other people's grain as well in / private. Mr. Drew opened certain straits in the counter, and the / curate followed him through them, then through a door, up a stair, / and into a comfortable dining-room, which smelt strongly of tobacco. / There Mr. Drew placed for him a chair, and seated himself in front / of him.

The linen-draper was a middle-aged, middle-sized, stoutish man, with / plump rosy cheeks, keen black eyes, and features of the not uncommon / pug-type, ennobled and harmonized by a genuine expression of kindly / good-humour, and an excellent forehead. His dark hair was a little / streaked with gray. His manner, which, in the shop, had been of the / shop, that is, more deferential and would-be pleasing than Wingfold / liked, settled as he took his seat into one more resembling that of / a country gentleman. It was courteous and friendly, but clouded with / a little anxiety.

An uncomfortable pause following, Wingfold stumbled in with the / question, "I hope Mrs. Drew is well," without reflecting whether he / had really ever heard of a Mrs. Drew.

The draper's face flushed.

"It is twenty years since I lost her, sir," he returned. In his tone / and manner there was something peculiar.

"I beg your pardon," said Wingfold, with self-accusing sincerity.

"I will be open with you sir," continued his host: "she left / me -- with another -- nearly twenty years ago."

"I am ashamed of my inadvertence," rejoined Wingfold. "I have been / such a short time here, and -- "

"Do not mention it, sir. How could you help it? Besides, it was not / here the thing took place, but a hundred miles away. I hope I should / before long have referred to the fact myself. But now I desire, if / you will allow me, to speak of something different."

"I am at your service," answered Wingfold.

"Thank you, sir. -- I was in your church last Sunday," resumed the / draper after a pause. "I am not one of your regular hearers, sir; / but your sermon that day set me thinking, and instead of thinking / less when Monday came, I have been thinking more and more ever / since; and when I saw you in the shop, I could not resist the sudden / desire to speak to you. If you have time, sir, I hope you will allow / me to come to the point my own way?"

Wingfold assured him that his time was at his own disposal, and / could not be better occupied. Mr. Drew thanked him and went on.

"Your sermon, I must confess, sir, made me uncomfortable -- no fault / of yours, sir -- all my own -- though how much the fault is, I hardly / know: use and custom are hard upon a man, sir, and you would have a / man go by other laws than those of the world he lives in. The earth / is the Lord's and the fulness thereof -- you will doubtless say. That / is over the Royal Exchange in London, I think; but it is not the / laws of the Lord that are specially followed inside for all that. / However, it is not with other people we have to do, but with / ourselves -- as you will say. Well then it is for myself I am / troubled now. Mr. Wingfold, sir, I am not altogether at ease in my / own mind as to the way I have made my money -- what little money I / have -- no great sum, but enough to retire upon when I please. I would / not have you think me worse than I am, but I am sincerely desirous / of knowing what you would have me do."

"My dear sir," returned Wingfold, "I am the very last to look to for / enlightenment. I am as ignorant of business as any child. I am not / aware that I ever bought anything except books and clothes, or ever / sold anything except a knife to a schoolfellow. I had bought it the / day before for half-a-crown, but there was a spot of rust on one of / the blades, and therefore I parted with it for twopence. The only / thing I can say is: if you have been in the way of doing anything / you are no longer satisfied with, don't do it any more."

"But just there comes my need of help. You must do something with / your business, and DON'T DO IT, don't tell me what to do. Mind I do / not confess to having done anything the trade would count / inadmissible, or which is not done in the largest establishments. / What I now make a question of I learned in one of the most / respectable of London houses."

"You imply that a man in your line who would not do certain things / the doing of which has contributed to the making of your fortune, / would by the ordinary dealer be regarded as Quixotic?"