Claire, and the Tracys,' all of whom shrugged
their shoulders and laughed at him in secret, but treated him civilly to
his face, for, deny it as we may, money has a mighty power, and will
open many a door which nothing else could move.
'Coarse and ignorant as a horse, but not so bad after all' was what
people said of him now; and in fact Peterkin had improved and softened a
good deal with the accession of wealth. Nobody gave so largely, or
lavishly either, to everything, as he did, while to his employees he was
always generous and considerate. Once he thought to join the church,
thinking that would add to his respectability; but when talked with by
his clergyman he showed himself so lamentably deficient in every
necessary qualification that he was advised to wait a while, which he
did; but he rented the most expensive pew he could find, and carried the
largest prayer-book of any one, and read the loudest, stumbling over the
words frightfully, and kept his head down the longest, so long, indeed,
that he once went to sleep, and had quite a little nap before his wife
nudged him and told him to get up.
'Good Lord deliver us!' Was his ejaculation, as he sprang to his feet,
and, adjusting his glasses, looked fiercely round at the amused
congregation.
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