"Yes, sir," replied "Cobbler" Horn; "and I am keeping you too long." "Not at all, my dear sir! Your visit has refreshed me greatly. Your talk is like a cool breeze on a hot day. It is not often that a millionaire comes to discuss with me the responsibilities of wealth. But let me hear what the peculiar difficulty is of which you spoke." "Well, sir, there is a serious inconvenience involved in my new position, with which I am quite unable to grapple." "Ah," said the minister, raising his eye-brows, "what is that?" "Why it is just the number of letters I receive." "Of course!" cried the minister, with twinkling eyes. "The birds of prey will be upon you from every side; and your being a religious man will, by no means, mitigate the evil." "Ah, I have no doubt you are right, sir! And it's a sort of compliment to religion, isn't it?" "Of course it is," said Mr. Durnford; "and a very beautiful way of looking at it too." "Thank you, sir. Well, there are two sides to my difficulty. First I wish to answer every letter I receive; but I cannot possibly do it myself." "No," said the minister. "But surely many of them need not be answered at all." "Yes, sir, by your leave. My sister says that many of the letters are probably impostures. But you see I cannot tell certainly which are of that kind. She also points out that very few of them contain stamps for reply. But I tell her that a few stamps, more or less, are of no moment to me now." "I don't know," broke in the minister, "which more to admire--your sister's wisdom or your own goodness." "Cobbler" Horn deprecatingly waved his hand. "Now, sir," he resumed, "Jemima advises me to engage a secretary." "Obviously," assented the minister, "that is your best course." "I suppose it is, sir; but I am all at sea, and want your help." "And you shall have it," said the minister heartily. "There are scores of young men--and young women too--who would jump at the chance of such a post as that of your secretary would probably be." "Thank you, sir; but you said young _women_?" "Precisely. Young women often accept, and very efficiently fill, such posts." "Indeed? I don't know how my sister----" "Of course not. But suppose we look for a moment at the other side of your difficulty." "Very well, sir; the other trouble is that I find it hard to decide what answers to send to a good many of the letters. They are mostly applications for money; and it's not easy to tell whether they are genuine. Then there are a great many appeals on behalf of all sorts of good objects. May I venture to hope, sir, that you will give me your advice in these matters?" "With pleasure!" replied Mr. Durnford, with sparkling eyes. "Thank you, sir; thank you very much indeed," said "Cobbler" Horn, greatly relieved. "And will it be too much if I ask you to advise me, in due course, as to the best way of making this money of my uncle's do as much good as possible, in a general way?"