WhenfirstthenewshadreachedthemthatMrHardingwasgoingtoleavethehospital，ithadbeenreceivedwithakindoftriumph——hisdeparturewas，asitwere，apreludetosuccess。Hehadadmittedhiswantofrighttothemoneyaboutwhichtheyweredisputing；andasitdidnotbelongtohim，ofcourse，itdidtothem。Theonehundredayeartoeachofthemwasactuallybecomingareality；andAbelHandywasahero，andBunceafaint-heartedsycophant，worthyneitherhonournorfellowship。Butothertidingssoonmadetheirwayintotheoldmen’srooms。ItwasfirstnotifiedtothemthattheincomeabandonedbyMrHardingwouldnotcometothem；andtheseaccountswereconfirmedbyattorneyFinney。TheyweretheninformedthatMrHarding’splacewouldbeatoncefilledbyanother。Thatthenewwardencouldnotbeakindermantheyallknew；thathewouldbealessfriendlyonemostsuspected；andthencamethebitterinformationthat，fromthemomentofMrHarding’sdeparture，thetwopenceaday，hisownpeculiargift，mustofnecessitybewithdrawn。
Andthiswastobetheendofalltheirmightystruggle——oftheirfightfortheirrights——oftheirpetition，andtheirdebates，andtheirhopes！Theyweretochangethebestofmastersforapossiblebadone，andtolosetwopenceadayeachman！
No；unfortunateasthiswas，itwasnottheworst，ornearlytheworst，aswilljustnowbeseen。
’Sitdown，sitdown，myfriends，’saidthewarden；’Iwanttosayawordtoyouandtodrinkyourhealths，beforeIleaveyou。Comeuphere，Moody，hereisachairforyou；come，JonathanCrumple’——andbydegreeshegotthementobeseated。Itwasnotsurprisingthattheyshouldhangbackwithfainthearts，havingreturnedsomuchkindnesswithsuchdeepingratitude。LastofallofthemcameBunce，andwithsorrowfulmienandslowstepgotintohisaccustomedseatnearthefire-place。
Whentheywereallintheirplaces，MrHardingrosetoaddressthem；andthenfindinghimselfnotquiteathomeonhislegs，hesatdownagain。’Mydearoldfriends，’saidhe，’youallknowthatIamgoingtoleaveyou。’