Publication
These lines are published as a heading to “A Bank Fraud”, in Plain Tales from the Hills (1888). It is collected as a Chapter Heading in Songs from Books and subsequent collections.
The poem
In the story a conscientious manager, with a tiresome subordinate, , finds that he is terminally ill, and fraudulently saves him from dismissal. The poem suggests that motives and morality do not always run along straight lines.
[J.McG.]
©John McGivering 2020 All rights reserved