Sentence:  “A very welcome, kind, useful <WSD>present</WSD>, that means to the parish. By the way, Hopkins, let this go no further. We don't want the tale running round that a rich person has arrived. Churchill, my dear fellow, we have such greedy sharks, and wolves in lamb's clothing. [...]” 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  A gift, especially one given for birthdays, Christmas, anniversaries, graduations, weddings, or any other special occasions.