Every bad motive which could exercise a man, he understood; but he was puzzled in endeavoring to make out what form of selfishness had moved Mr.Balfour to take such an interest in the people of Sevenoaks.
At last he sat down at his table and wrote a letter to his agent, simply ordering him to establish a more thorough watch over his property, and directing him to visit all the newspaper offices of the region, and keep the reports of the meeting and its attendant personal indignities from publication.
Then, with an amused smile upon his broad face, he wrote the following letter: "TO THE REVEREND SOLOMON SNOW, "_Dear Sir_: I owe an apology to the people of Sevenoaks for never adequately acknowledging the handsome manner in which they endeavored to assuage the pangs of parting on the occasion of my removal.

The resolutions passed at their public meeting are cherished among my choicest treasures, and the cheers of the people as I rode through their ranks on the morning of my departure, still ring in my ears more delightfully than any music I ever heard.

Thank them, I pray you, for me, for their overwhelming friendliness.

I now have a request to make of them, and I make it the more boldly because, during the past ten years, I have never been approached by any of them in vain when they have sought my benefactions.

The Continental Petroleum Company is a failure, and all the stock I hold in it is valueless.