Yes?

“I’m going to start a mission myself.”

“Go on.”

“On a new principle.  The first thing will be that there will be no religious services whatever.  I won’t have a clergyman connected with it.  It will be intended solely for the benefit of the people from a temporal point of view.”

“You are going a long way,” she said.  “What about Sundays?”

“There will be a very short service for the mission helpers only.  No one will be asked from outside at all.  If they come it will be as a favour.  Directly it is over the usual week-day procedure will go on.

“And what is that to be?”

Brooks smiled a little doubtfully.

“Well,” he said, “I’ve got the main idea in my head, but all the details want thinking out.  I want the place to be a sort of help bureau, to give the people living in a certain street or couple of streets somewhere to go for advice and help in cases of emergency.  There will be no money given away, under any consideration—­only food, clothing, and, if they are asked for, books.  I shall have half-a-dozen bathrooms, and the people who come regularly for advice and help will have to use them and to keep their houses clean.  There will be no distinction as to character.  We shall help the drunkards and the very worst of them just the same as the others if they apply.  If we get enough helpers there will be plenty of branches we can open.  I should like to have a children’s branch, for instance—­one or two women will take the children of the neighbourhood in hand and bathe them every day.  As we get to know the people better and appreciate their special needs other things will suggest themselves.  But I want them to feel that they have some place to fail back upon.  We shall be frightfully humbugged, robbed, cheated, and deceived—­at first.  I fancy that after a time that will wear itself out.”

“It is a fascinating idea,” she said, thoughtfully, “but to carry it out in any way thoroughly you want a great many helpers and a great deal of money.”

“I have enough to start it,” he said, “and when it is really going and improving itself I shall go out and ask for subscriptions-big ones, you know, from the right sort of people.  You can always get money if you can show that it is to be well spent.”

“And what about the helpers?”

“Well, I know of a few,” he said, “who I think would come in, and there is one to whom I would have to pay a small salary.”

“I could come in the afternoons,” she said.

“Capital!  But are you sure,” he said, after a moment’s hesitation, “that it is quite fair to yourself?

“Oh, I can manage with my morning’s salary,” she answered, laughing.  “I shan’t starve.  Besides, I can always burn a little midnight oil.”