in black was
bulky, his features were noble, but they were those of a lion.

'What is your business, young man?' said the precise personage, as I
stood staring at him and his companion.

'I want a Bible,' said I.

'What price, what size?' said the precise-looking man.

'As to size,' said I, 'I should like to have a large one--that is, if you
can afford me one--I do not come to buy.'

'Oh, friend,' said the precise-looking man, 'if you come here expecting
to have a Bible for nothing, you are mistaken--we--'

'I would scorn to have a Bible for nothing,' said I, 'or anything else; I
came not to beg, but to barter; there is no shame in that, especially in
a country like this, where all folks barter.'

'Oh, we don't barter,' said the precise man, 'at least Bibles; you had
better depart.'

'Stay, brother,' said the man with the countenance of a lion, 'let us ask
a few questions; this may be a very important case; perhaps the young man
has had convictions.'

'Not I,' I exclaimed, 'I am convinced of nothing, and with regard to the
Bible--I don't believe--'

'Hey!' said the man with the lion countenance, and there he stopped. But
with that 'Hey' the walls of the house seemed to shake, the windows
rattled, and the porter whom I had seen in front of the house came
running up the steps, and looked into the apartment through the glass of
the door.

There was silence for about a minute--the same kind of silence which
succeeds a clap of thunder.

At last the man with the lion countenance, who had kept his eyes fixed
upon me, said calmly, 'Were you about to say that you don't believe in
the Bible, young man?'

'No more than in anything else,' said I; 'you were talking of
convictions--I have no convictions. It is not easy to believe in the
Bible till one is convinced that there is a Bible.'

'He seems to be insane,' said the prim-looking man; 'we had better order
the porter to turn him out.'

'I am by no means certain,' said I, 'that the porter could turn me out;
always provided there is a porter, and this system of ours be not a lie,
and a dream.'

'Come,' said the lion-looking man, impatiently, 'a truce with this
nonsense. If the porter cannot turn you out, perhaps some other person
can; but to the point--you want a Bible?'

'I do,' said I, 'but not for myself; I was sent by another person to
offer something in exchange for one.'

'And who is that person?'

'A poor old woman, who has had what you call conv