"I am quite at a loss to know to what excellent lady you refer," said Father Letheby.
"I'm very sorry to hear such a statement from the lips of a clergyman," said the foreman, with much severity; "for the lady to whom I refer is the representative, and, indeed, the personification of Justice—"
"Oh, you mean 'Astræa,'" said Father Letheby.
"Quite so, sir," said the merchant, pompously. "When Astery left the earth she took refuge in the Church."
"Indeed!" said Father Letheby, "I was not aware of that interesting fact."
"Well, sir," said the merchant, nettled at this sarcastic coolness, "at least we, laymen, are accustomed to think so. We have been taught to repose unbounded confidence in our clergy—"
"And how have I forfeited that confidence?" said Father Letheby, who began to see a certain deliberate insult under all this silliness.
"Well, you see, sir," he continued, "we relied on your word of honor, and did not demand the usual securities for the advance of our money. And now we find ourselves in a curious predicament—our money gone, and no redress."
"You doubt my word of honor now?" said Father Letheby, who, to his own seeming, had been a miracle of patience.
"We have been deceived, sir," said the merchant, grandly.