But for the generosity of our relatives we would have been in a pretty
plight. They sent us sufficient means to buy iii everything, and our
neighbours came to our rescue with enthusiasm and warm-hearted genuine
sympathy. The bailiff--a gentleman to the core--seeing how matters stood,
helped us to the utmost of his power.

Our goods were disposed of on the premises, and the neighbours arranged a
mock sale, at which the bailiff winked. Our friends had sent the money,
and the neighbours did the bidding--none bidding against each other--and
thus our belongings went for a mere trifle. Every cloud has its silver
lining, and the black cloud of poverty has a very bright silver lining.

In poverty you can get at the real heart of people as you can never do if
rich. People are your friends from pure friendship and love, not from
sponging self-interestedness. It is worth being poor once or twice in a
lifetime just to experience the blessing and heartrestfulness of a little
genuine reality in the way of love and friendship. Not that it is
impossible for opulence to have genuine friends, but rich people, I fear,
must ever have at their heart cankering suspicion to hint that the
friendship and love lavished upon them is merely self-interestedness and
sham, the implements of trade used by the fawning toadies who swarm
around wealth.

In conjunction with the bishop's name, the approaching sale of our goods
had been duly advertised in the local papers, and my father received
several letters of sympathy from the clergy deploring the conduct of the
bishop. These letters were from men unknown to father, who were unaware
that Richard Melvyn was being sold off for a debt already paid.

By the generosity of relatives and the goodness of neighbours as kind as