“The blood-debt might be wiped away, Sam, for the sake of the future.”
“God grant it. And now, John, you will want money.”
“Money! How do you know that?”
“John, my man, when I was in love I was always poor. I know how Dan Cupid picks a man’s pocket. Besides, money is above the law, John, and at a pinch you might find it useful.”
“I have money enough; it needs handling, that is all. There is all my property in Yorkshire.”
“Give me a written authority, John, and I will act for you.”
“Sam, you are a friend.”
“I am a man of business, sir. I can receive and hand on rentals, can I not? And as for the present need, I always keep money in my house. Take what you want; the security is good enough.”
John Gore began to thank him, but Mr. Pepys rose up from his chair and put his two hands on his friend’s shoulders.
“Man John, there may be two or three souls in the wide world whom a man may love without prejudice and without disaster. The friends of a life are few, John, and we find them without forethought. Men come to me for favors, scores of them in the year; most of them are sycophants, rogues, hypocrites; I know it, and there is no deep pleasure in what I do. But there are some men, John, to whom the heart goes out in the game of life. To be a friend to a friend comes not so very often. A man who has seen life will swear to that.”