On the Sunday afternoon Mr Booker called on her and talked to her about the article.  She did not say much to Mr Booker as to her own connection with Mr Melmotte, telling herself that prudence was essential in the present emergency.  But she listened with all her ears.  It was Mr Booker’s idea that the man was going ’to make a spoon or spoil a horn.’  ‘You think him honest;—­don’t you?’ asked Lady Carbury.  Mr Booker smiled and hesitated.  ’Of course, I mean honest as men can be in such very large transactions.’

‘Perhaps that is the best way of putting it,’ said Mr Booker.

’If a thing can be made great and beneficent, a boon to humanity, simply by creating a belief in it...