When I told him that Kathleen had sent Fairing away with a flea in his ear, he nearly fell off his chair.

He lent me twenty dollars on the spot.

Are you coming our way ?" he continued, suddenly trying to imitate Charley's manner.

Charley nodded, and they left the office together and moved away under a long avenue of maples to where, in the shade of a high hill, was the house of the uncle of Kathleen Wantage, with whom she and her brother Billy lived.

They walked in silence for some time, and at last Billy said, 'a propos' of nothing: "Fairing hasn't a red cent." "You have a perambulating mind, Billy," said Charley, and bowed to a young clergyman approaching them from the opposite direction.
"What does that mean ?" remarked Billy, and said "Hello!" to the young clergyman, and did not wait for Charley's answer.
The Rev.John Brown was by no means a conventional parson.