Page:The Story of the Cheeryble Grants.djvu/33

Rh meeting closed without any conclusive evidence that Charles Dickens had ever actually met the two brothers Grant — ‘The Cheeryble Brothers.’ I was talking over the matter and discussing your leader in this morning’s ‘Manchester Guardian’ with my friend, Mr. N. H. Hacking, of this city, and, strange to say, he told me of a conversation he had with Mr. W. K. Keeling, a former president of the Manchester Academy of Arts, who informed him that he (Mr. Keeling) was present at a dinner in Manchester when Charles Dickens and the two brothers Grant were also present. I have Mr. Hacking’s permission for stating this, and thus corroborate the information contained in your leading article. I am sure no one will appreciate any additional evidence more than the Rev. W. Hume Elliot, who, I understand, is going to give a further discourse on the subject at one of the Dickens Fellowship meetings.’”

This was succeeded on the 15th March by the following:—

The Rev. W. Hume Elliot writes:— “I read with much interest the leading article in yesterday’s ‘Manchester Guardian’ on the question, ‘Did Dickens meet the Cheerybles?’ My prepossessions were all strongly in favour of an affirmative answer. I took Forster’s words just as they stand,