'Are we really forty thousand strong, or do we still speak in
round numbers when we take the Association at that amount?'
'Our total now exceeds that number by a score and three,' Gashford
replied, casting his eyes upon his papers.
'The funds?'
'Not VERY improving; but there is some manna in the wilderness, my lord.
Hem! On Friday night the widows' mites dropped in. "Forty scavengers,
three and fourpence. An aged pew-opener of St Martin's parish, sixpence.
A bell-ringer of the established church, sixpence. A Protestant infant,
newly born, one halfpenny. The United Link Boys, three shillings--one
bad. The anti-popish prisoners in Newgate, five and fourpence. A friend
in Bedlam, half-a-crown. Dennis the hangman, one shilling."'
'That Dennis,' said his lordship, 'is an earnest man. I marked him in
the crowd in Welbeck Street, last Friday.'
'A good man,' rejoined the secretary, 'a staunch, sincere, and truly
zealous man.'
'He should be encouraged,' said Lord George. 'Make a note of Dennis.
I'll talk with him.'
Gashford obeyed, and went on reading from his list:
'"The Friends of Reason, half-a-guinea. The Friends of Liberty,
half-a-guinea. The Friends of Peace, half-a-guinea.
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