The Confidence-Man Chapters 7 and 8

In which a gentleman distinguished by spotless hands and gold sleeve-buttons engages in a spirited discourse on the grand ambition of systematising worldwide charity, revealing a blend of idealism and pragmatic finance that intrigues yet challenges his companion’s more measured benevolence. Afterwards, a thoughtful widow, recently emerged from mourning, encounters a stranger whose probing questions on confidence lead her into a tender conflict between charity and caution amidst the subdued atmosphere of a ship’s ladies’ saloon.