VII
Mrs. Stirring to the Editor of “The Eastbury Herald.”
Sir,—Whatever the cause of the slander, whether malice or misadventure, the fact remains that you have done a very cruel thing. I enclose a cutting from the London Press, sent me by a friend, which will show you that the calumny is becoming widely spread. Mr. Stirring is so weak and dispirited that we fear he may have got some inkling of it. Your position if he discovers the worst will be terrible.
I am, Yours faithfully,
Augusta Stirring.
(The Enclosure)
From “The Morning Star”
Signs of the Times
We get the new movement in a nutshell in the report from Eastbury that Lord Glossthorpe has let his historic house to a retired baker named Stirring, etc., etc.
VIII
From “The Eastbury Herald” 9 Sept.
Erratum.—In our issue last week an unfortunate misprint made us state that the new tenant of Kildin Hall was a retired baker. The word was of course banker.
IX
Mr. John Bridger, Baker, to the Editor of “The Eastbury Herald.”
Dear Hedges,—I was both pained and surprised to find a man of your principles and a friend of mine writing of bakers as you did this week. Why should you “of course” have meant a banker? Why cannot a retired baker take a fine house if he wants to? I am thoroughly ashamed of you, and wish to withdraw my advertisement from your paper.
Yours truly, John Bridger.