"Here is the Beau," said Moore. "Ah, George, you have come just in time for the collection."
"Indeed?" said Brummell, curiously. "Have I missed the sermon?"
"Yes, but you are in time for the blessing, if you have any money to lend a poor devil of an Irishman."
"Money," sighed the Beau, "is too vulgar for me to long endure its possession, Tom."
"I am not joking, Brummell," declared Moore, seriously. "I need money, sir. Every penny you can let me have. How much do you think you can raise for me within the hour?"
Brummell, assured by Moore's manner that he was not jesting, began to sum up his resources.
"I think," said he, hopefully, "that I can borrow fifty pounds from my landlady, and I have a guinea or two in my clothes."
"Fifty pounds," said Moore. "And you, Sherry?"
The gentleman addressed had ransacked his pockets and was rapidly counting out a handful of small coins.
"I have five shillings and sixpence," he announced.