“Oh yes. They will all be delivered before then.”
“And have you had many orders?” said the clergyman.
“A great many,” said Reginald.
“Hundreds, I daresay. There are many to whom it would be a boon at this season to get so cheap an outfit.”
“Two hundred, I should say,” said Reginald. “Would you like to leave an order with me?”
“Two hundred! Dear me! And did they all send the two pounds, as stated here, along with their order?”
“Oh yes. Some sent more,” said Reginald, quite thankful to have some one to talk to, who did not regard him either as a fool or a knave.
“It must have been a very extensive bankrupt stock you acquired,” said the clergyman musingly. “And were all the applicants clergymen like myself?”
“Nearly all.”
“Dear me, how sad to think how many there are to whom such an opportunity is a godsend! We are sadly underpaid, many of us, Mr Reginald, and are apt to envy you gentlemen of business your comfortable means. Now you, I daresay, get as much as three or four of us poor curates get together.”