Granted, then, that the three most serious
losses which a man can suffer are those affecting money, health, and
reputation. Loss of money is far the worst, then comes ill-health, and
then loss of reputation; loss of reputation is a bad third, for, if
a man keeps health and money unimpaired, it will be generally found
that his loss of reputation is due to breaches of parvenu
conventions only, and not to violations of those older, better
established canons whose authority is unquestionable. In this case a
man may grow a new reputation as easily as a lobster grows a new claw,
or, if he have health and money, may thrive in great peace of mind
without any reputation at all. The only chance for a man who has
lost his money is that he shall still be young enough to stand
uprooting and transplanting without more than temporary derangement,
and this I believed my godson still to be.
By the prison rules he might receive and send a letter after he
had been in gaol three months, and might also receive one visit from a
friend. When he received my letter, he at once asked me to come and
see him, which of course I did. I found him very much changed, and
still so feeble that the exertion of coming from the infirmary to
the cell in which I was allowed to see him, and the agitation of
seeing me were too much for him.
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