"What name ?" "Confound the name!" snapped the severe gentle man.

"Good-day." "Oh, to be sure, to be sure--good--day," said the Rev.Andrew, and he smiled and bowed and slid I trough the half-open door.
Nicholas Crips called at many offices.

In a few instances the occupants evaded a levy.

They were people who had no particular business in hand, and could spare the time to hear all the Rev.Andrew Rowbottom persuasive arguments and stubbornly resist each plea, but the majority of the men were glad to buy the eloquent clergyman off with a small contribution.
Sometimes office boys were impertinent, and an occasional business man was insolent and talked of throwing the suppliant out of the window, but Mr.Rowbottom was always suave and conciliatory.

He seemed to sympathise with the angry individual whose privacy he was forced to break in pursuit of a sacred duty.
Nickie the Kid reached the fourth floor.