case, I should imagine it was chiefly a question of money,
do you know?«
    I incautiously gave a qualified assent to this.
    »Ah! Then you see,« said Mr. Skimpole, shaking his head, »I am hopeless of
understanding it.«
    I suggested, as I rose to go, that it was not right to betray my guardian's
confidence for a bribe.
    »My dear Miss Summerson,« he returned, with a candid hilarity that was all
his own. »I can't be bribed.«
    »Not by Mr. Bucket?« said I.
    »No,« said he. »Not by anybody. I don't attach any value to money. I don't
care about it, I don't know about it, I don't want it, I don't keep it - it goes
away from me directly. How can I be bribed?«
    I showed that I was of a different opinion, though I had not the capacity
for arguing the question.
    »On the contrary,« said Mr. Skimpole, »I am exactly the man to be placed in
a superior position, in such a case as that. I am above the rest of mankind, in
such a case as that. I can act with philosophy, in such a case as that. I am not
warped by prejudices, as an Italian baby is by bandages. I am as free as the
air. I feel myself as far above suspicion as Cæsar's wife.«
    Anything to equal the lightness of his manner, and the playful impartiality
with which he seemed to convince himself, as he tossed the matter about like a
ball of feathers, was surely never seen in anybody else!
    »Observe the case, my dear Miss Summerson. Here is a boy received into the
house and put to bed, in a state that I strongly object to. The boy being in
bed, a man arrives - like the house that Jack built. Here is the man who demands
the boy who is received into the house and put to bed in a state that I strongly
object to. Here is a bank-note produced by the man who demands the boy who is
received into the house and put to bed in a state that I strongly object to.
Here is the Skimpole who accepts the bank-note produced by the man who demands
the boy who is received into the house and put to bed in a state that I strongly
object to. Those are the facts. Very well. Should the Skimpole