"To find Livingstone."
"Have you found him?"
"Yes, of course; am I not in his house? Whose compass is that
hanging on a peg there? Whose clothes, whose boots, are those?
Who reads those newspapers, those 'Saturday Reviews' and numbers
of 'Punch' lying on the floor?"
"Well, what are you going to do now?"
"I shall tell him this morning who sent me, and what brought me
here. I will then ask him to write a letter to Mr. Bennett, and
to give what news he can spare. I did not come here to rob him of
his news. Sufficient for me is it that I have found him. It is a
complete success so far. But it will be a greater one if he gives
me letters for Mr. Bennett, and an acknowledgment that he has seen
me."
"Do you think he will do so?"
"Why not? I have come here to do him a service. He has no goods.
I have. He has no men with him. I have. If I do a friendly part
by him, will he not do a friendly part by me? What says the poet? -
Nor hope to find
A friend, but who has found a friend in thee.
All like the purchase; few the price will pay
And this makes friends such wonders here below.
I have paid the purchase, by coming so far to do him a service.
But I think, from what I have seen of him last night, that he is
not such a niggard and misanthrope as I was led to believe.
