The Benevolent Insurance Company, although
not old, was by no means of entirely new
creation. It had been bom some years ago,
but, for want of vitality, had never yet given
forth any signs of nourishing. It had started
with a weak board, which had gradually got
weaker, and of business it had, as yet, never
had sufficient to pay its current office expenses.
Of the original directors there now remained
but three or four; and, although the neat office,
the mahogany-furnished board-room, the brass
rails in the office, the handsome bound ledgers,
the spruce secretary, and one or two trim clerks
remained, it was easy to see that of real business
there was little or none done at its head-quarters.
Now and again— this I learned afterwards—
some of the outside "touters" for the company
would induce some stray, and probably insane
individual who wished to insure his life, to
send in a proposal to our office; but these
were rare, and more rarely still did such
propositions come to anything. But of this more
presently.

My friend of noble family explained to me,
that what was wanted was—so to speak— the
regeneration of this Insurance Company. Besides
the Honourable John and myself, four or five
gentlemen had been induced to join the board,
and each of these was to pay down a thousand
pounds for his shares. In obtaining shares there
was no difficulty whatever, for, of the original ten
thousand shares, not more than one thousand had
been applied for by the public. But it was
supposed that when the direction was known to
be entirely reconstructed, and that seven new
directors had each subscribed, and each paid for
a hundred shares, the affair would look up, and
the unappropriated shares be in great demand.

Of the seven new directors, one was a baronet
—a poor man, without an acre or a hundred
pounds he could call his own, but still a baronet;
and with untoadying John Bull, even this much
of a title goes a very long way. Another was a
member of parliament, and when I have said
that, I have said everything; for, beyond his
top-coat, scarf-pin, watch and chain, umbrella
and hat, he had no property, portable or
otherwise, that I or anybody else could discover.
Next in the list followed two medical men,
both of whom were individuals with more
leisure than money, and more assurance than
learning. The fifth was a retired brewer, who,
having for thirty years worked hard to make
a fortune, now worked as hard to spend it
Every man has his particular hobby, and this
individual's mania was that of being in company
with men who had handles to their names, or
were, as he termed them, "real gentlemen, and
no mistake, sir." The Honourable John
Fenceman and myself completed the number of seven
new Directors for the Benevolent Insurance
Company.

After giving the subject some few days'
consideration, I consented— notwithstanding the
arguments of my friend, Colonel Jones, who
advised me to have nothing to say to the concern
—to join this board, being induced to do so
partly by the promised dignity of a seat at the
board, but chiefly by the immense profits which
would accrue to me according to the figures
shown me by the secretary of the company.
According to this gentleman, as proved by
statistics of the last ten years, taken from the
annual report of various London offices, the
thousand pounds I was about to invest in shares
must bring me in at the very least a yearly
return of five hundred pounds. My seat at the
board would alone give me an income of one
hundred and four pounds a year—two pounds
each week—and this would be interest at the
rate of ten per cent. Thus it was clearly shown
that, look at the matter in what light I would,
I must be an immense gainer in money, as well
as in dignity, by joining the direction of the
Benevolent Insurance Company.

The first day we met in the board-room of the
company, we voted the baronet into the chair,
and then passed resolutions respecting the
qualification of each director. Determined not
to fail in paying up on the hundred shares I had
put my name down for, I at once handed to the
secretary a cheque for one thousand pounds;
my brother director, the retired brewer, did
the same; but from the others there were merely
paid in comparatively small sums " on account,"
or else shares of various companies were given as
security that the amount due would be paid. I
ventured to hint that, in qualifying for shares,
the amount ought to be at once paid down in
cash, but was overruled by nearly the whole
board declaring that there was plenty of time,
that it would " all be right," and so on. I
felt rather sorry that I had been in such a hurry
to part with my thousand pounds, but as the
cheque had been already passed to the secretary
there was nothing to be done but to grin
and bear. The Honourable John paid in one
hundred pounds in cash as his qualification, and
placed shares in a tenth-rate bank, valued
altogether at about two hundred pounds, with the
secretary. The baronet paid in nothing, nor
did he give any security; the member of
parliament also declared himself unable to book
up at the moment, but promised to do so at our
next board meeting. It was proposed by one
of the medical men, seconded by my honourable
friend, and carried unanimously, that each
director should give his promissory note at
three months, bearing interest at the rate of
ten per cent per annum, for the amount of his
shares, and that each such note, being made
payable at a bank, should be passed to the
secretary, and by him credited as so much cash.
In vain I ventured to expostulate, and to say
that, however solvent the giver of a note-of-
hand might be, promises to pay were not cash,
and ought not to be considered cash. But I
was overruled, as it was declared that, where
all were honourable men, and quite certain to
meet their engagements, it would only be
creating useless difficulties did we make any
distinction between money and engagements. I saw
that further objection was useless, but after
having expressed myself so strongly on the