"Not now," said Mr Clayton, softened by my returning warmth. "Let us
read again. Some other time."

In a few days the subject was again introduced, and I put in possession
of the history of the unfortunate man who was so soon to be brought
under the anathema of the church. According to the statement of the
minister, the guilty person had received at various times from him as a
loan, no less a sum than four thousand pounds, the substance of his
wealth, besides an equal amount from other sources, for which Mr Clayton
had made himself accountable. Mr Clayton had implicated himself so
seriously, as he said, for the advantage of the man whom he had known
from boyhood, and raised from beggary, simply on account of the love he
bore him, and in consideration of his Christian character. Of every
farthing thus advanced, the minister had been defrauded, and within a
month the trader had declared himself a bankrupt. That the minister
should have acted so inconsiderately and prodigally, might seem strange
to any one who did not thoroughly understand the extreme unselfishness
of his disposition. Towards me he had behaved with an equal liberality,
and I, at least, had no right to question the truth of every word he
spoke. The conduct of the man appeared odious and unpardonable, and I
regretted that I should have doubted, for one moment, the propriety of
assisting so manifest an act of justice. Let me acknowledge that there
was much need of self-persuasion to arrive at this conclusion. I wished
to believe that I felt _urged_ to my determination; but the necessity
that I experienced of working myself up to a conviction of the justice
of the case, militated sadly against so pleasing a delusion.

The second church meeting in which it fell to my lot to perform a
distinguished character, took place soon after the communication which I