The cost of the trip had been but five guineas; but never, surely,
were five guineas so magnificently invested. There was a good deal
of romance about Flipp, and it may be that his accounts were not
entirely trustworthy; but they so fired the imagination of our
friend Benjamin that he had at once begun to hoard up surreptitious
sixpences, with the hope that some day he too might, by some
unforeseen combination of circumstances, be enabled to visit the
enchanted city.

And at last that day had come. Mrs. Quelch, her three children
and her one domestic, had gone to Lowestoft for an Easter outing,
Benjamin and a deaf charwoman, Mrs. Widger, being left in charge
of the family belongings. Benjamin's Easter holidays were limited
to Good Friday and Easter Monday, and, as it seemed hardly worth
while that he should travel so far as Lowestoft for such short
periods, Mrs. Quelch had thoughtfully arranged that he should
spend the former day at the British Museum and the latter at the
Zoological Gardens. Two days after her departure, however, Mr.
Cobble called Quelch into his private office and told him that if
he liked he might for once take holiday from the Friday to the
Tuesday inclusive, and join his wife at the seaside.

Quelch accepted the boon with an honest intention of employing
it as suggested. Indeed, he had even begun a letter to his wife
announcing the pleasing intelligence, and had got as far as "My dear
Penelope," when a wild and wicked thought struck him: why should
he not spend his unexpected holiday in Paris?

Laying down his pen, he opened his desk: and counted his secret
hoard. It amounted to five pounds seventeen, twelve shillings more