“Now I may need you only twenty minutes, or I may need you all the afternoon; but I want you to feel happy while you’re driving me, don’t you know, so here’s all I’m going to give you, and I wish to have no dispute about fares at the end of the journey.” There never was any dispute, and Barney was extremely popular with the driving fraternity.
When the date of the wedding was fixed, Barney, on his return to London, took a cab at ten pounds in honour of the forthcoming event. He said to himself that he couldn’t give less and retain his self-respect, as he intended using the cab in completing the necessary arrangements for the ceremony. He drove first to the residence of the clergyman who was in charge of St. Martyrs-in-the-East; for he had determined that the marriage should take place in this church, because it was the nearest sacred building to his father’s works and was surrounded by a population largely in the employ of the firm, directly or indirectly. Besides this, Barney took a particular delight in the thought that all the newspapers would be compelled to send representatives to this unfashionable locality; for the wedding would be a notable one, and he was now so famous that should he marry or die in the most unknown spot in the British Isles, his doing so would forever bestow distinction on the place.
The genial old clergyman was undeniably impressed by the fact that so celebrated a man chose St. Martyrs for such an important ceremony.
“Of course,” said Barney, airily, “I shall have a bishop or two to assist you, and perhaps a few lesser dignitaries. If you will just give me the names of any you prefer, I shall put myself into communication with them.”
“You mean that I shall assist the bishop,” protested the reverend gentleman, mildly. “His Lordship, as of course you know, takes precedence.”
“Oh, well, you’ll arrange all that among yourselves. I don’t understand these matters, you know: I was never married before, and I leave every detail in the hands of those experienced. What I wish is to have everything well done, regardless of expense. If you will allow me I would like to send you a cheque for a thousand pounds, to be distributed among the poor, don’t you know, and that sort of thing, in honour of the occasion. I suppose it can be managed.”
“We shall be very grateful indeed for it. A plethora of money has never been one of the obstacles with which we have had to contend in this parish.”
“Then that’s all right. Now, have you seen your organist lately? What’s his name? It has slipped my memory for the moment.”
“Langly. I am sorry to say he has not been at all well lately. Not ill, exactly, for he has been able to attend to his duties, but still far from well. I think he needs some one to look after him. He is an absent-minded man—a dreamer—and I fear he neglects himself.”
“I have tried to help him,” said Barney; “but he shrinks from assistance of any kind as if it were infectious. He never will call on me, and I have had so many demands on my time lately that I have not looked him up, as I intended to do. Could you give me his address? I had it once, but I’ve mislaid it.”