“Could you not publish the formula?” asked Mr. Croft; “it might be useful to the general public.”
“There are some medicines the success of which depends as much on the person who administers them as on the drugs they actually contain,” laughed Mr. Black; “and I don’t think my physic would do Mr. Raidsford much good, unless I gave it to him with my own hands. Meddling humbug! what the deuce does he know about companies?”
“I suppose it is true concerning things as well as people—that we generally dislike that which we do not know,” said Mr. Stewart.
“And a vast number of both things and people that we do,” added Mr. Black. Shortly after which speech his visitors took their departure, leaving him to finish his letter at his leisure.
Next day it appeared in the Times, and ran to the following effect:—
“Sir,—In the Times of to-day I see (unlike his Lordship, I read the papers) that Lord Kemms wishing, for some inscrutable reason, to ‘set himself straight with the general public,’ repudiates all connection with the Protector Bread and Flour Company (Limited). How such repudiation is to effect the difficult task Lord Kemms has set himself, he, perhaps, can explain; but as his letter is calculated to injure our credit, I beg leave to state, first—
“That Lord Kemms distinctly gave me permission to place his name on our Direction.
“Secondly. That the terms on which his name was to appear were fully settled between us.
“Thirdly. That the list of directors was published in almost every respectable paper throughout the kingdom, and daily for some weeks in the Times; and that, consequently, Lord Kemms must have been perfectly well aware his name was placed on the Direction.
“Fourthly. That Lord Kemms gave no opportunity, either to myself or our secretary, Mr. Dudley, of entering into the slightest explanation on the subject. He called at the offices of the Company, in Lincoln’s Inn Fields, but only for the purpose, apparently, of indulging in a monologue, since, when Mr. Dudley and I endeavoured to utter a few words concerning the question in dispute, he indignantly rushed out of the secretary’s room, declaring he should write to the Times. Under the unfortunate impression that the matter can have the slightest interest for the general public, he has carried out his threat, and I am therefore compelled to request the insertion of this letter.