no hope whatever of being the fashion and making your bow before � or if you have that hope it is wildly play on my friend play on � the sounds make are very agreeable and seem to imply that you are happy i wonder if you are � or if like me you are going rapidly to the devil the music grew softer and more plaintive and was now accompanied by the rattle of against the a wind whistled under the door and roared down the chimney � a wind cold as the grasp of death searching as a knife i shivered � and bending close over the smoky lamp prepared to read my news as i opened the envelope a bill for fifty pounds to me at a well known london banker s fell out upon the table the sorrows of satan my heart gave a quick bound of mingled relief and gratitude why jack old fellow i wronged you i exclaimed � your heart is in the right place after all and profoundly touched by my friend s ready generosity i eagerly his letter it was not very long and had evidently been written off in haste dear i m sorry to hear you are down on your luck it shows what a crop of fools are still flourishing in london when a man of your cannot gain his proper place in the world of letters and be acknowledged i believe it s all a question of wire pulling and money is the only thing that will pull the wires here s the fifty you ask for and welcome � don t hurry about paying it back i am doing you a good turn this year by sending you a friend � a real friend mind you � no sham he brings you a letter of introduction from me and between ourselves old man you cannot do better than put yourself and your literary affairs entirely in his hands he knows everybody and is up to all the of management and newspaper he is a great besides � and seems particularly fond of the society of the clergy rather a queer taste you will say but his reason for such preference is as he has explained to me quite frankly that he is so wealthy that he does not quite know what to do with his money and the reverend gentlemen of the church are generally ready to show him how to spend some of it he is always glad to know of some quarter where his money and influence he is very influential may be useful to others he has helped me out of a very serious and i owe him a big debt of gratitude i ve told him all about you � what a smart fellow you are and what a lot dear old thought of you and he has promised to give you a lift up he can do anything he likes very naturally seeing that the the sorrows of satan whole world of morals civilization and the rest is to the power of money � and us stock of cash appears to be use him he is willing and ready to be used � and write and let me know how you get on don t bother about the fifty till you feel you have over the storm ever yours i laughed as i read the absurd signature though my eyes were dim with something like tears was the given to my friend by several of our college companions and neither he nor i knew how it first arose but no one except the ever addressed him by his proper name which was john � he was simply and he remained even now for all those who had been his i and put by his letter and the for the fifty pounds and with a passing vague wonder as to what manner of man the might be who had more money than he knew what to do with i turned to the consideration of my other two relieved to feel that now whatever happened i could settle up with my landlady the next day as i had promised moreover i could order some supper and have a fire lit to cheer my chilly room before attending to these creature comforts however i opened the long blue envelope that looked so like a threat of legal proceedings and the paper within stared at it what was it all about � the written characters danced before my eyes � puzzled and bewildered i found myself reading the thing over and over again without any clear comprehension of it presently a glimmer of meaning flashed upon me startling my senses like an electric shock no � no � � impossible fortune never could be so mad as this � never so wildly capricious and grotesque of humour it was some senseless that was being practised upon me and yet if it were a joke it was a very elaborate and remarkable one with the i the sorrows of satan majesty of the law too upon my word and by all the that govern human affairs the news seemed actually positive and genuine ii my thoughts with an effort i read every word of the document over again deliberately and the of my wonder increased was i going mad or sickening for a fever or could this startling this piece of information be really true because � if indeed it were true good heavens � i turned giddy to think of it and it was only by sheer force of will that i kept myself from with the agitation of such sudden surprise and ecstasy if it were true � why then the world was mine � i was king instead of beggar � i was everything i chose to be the letter � the amazing letter bore the printed name of a noted firm of 