“… actually I received a very good education.” I travelled in my youth, then took to the stage, and finally became a reporter on an evening paper. One day, my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in London. I agreed to write them. I had to try begging myself in order to get the facts upon which to base my articles. When an actor, I learned all the secrets of making up. I decided to turn to account this experience for the new position.
So I painted my face, and made a scar across my face and a twist at one side of my lip. Then with a head of red hair, and a beggar’s dress, I took my station in the busiest part of the city as a match-seller, but really as a beggar. When I returned home in the evening I found, to my surprise, that I had received no less than twenty-six shillings and two pence.
But, as it often happened, I was up to the neck in debt then. I had not enough money to settle with my creditors at the moment. A sudden idea came to me; I asked my creditors to wait two weeks, and got a leave at my office. I spent the time in begging in the city. In ten days I had the money and pay the debt.
Well, you can imagine how hard it was for me to return to my work at two pounds a week, when I knew that I could earn as much in a day by painting my face, laying my cap on the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my pride and the money, but the money won at last. So I sat day after day in the corner, filling my pockets with coins.
Soon I found that I had a considerable sum of money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London could earn that much. As I grew richer, I bought a house in the country, and married. My wife knew simply that I had some business in the city…”



Answer the following questions:
a. What kind of jobs had the character had before?
b. Why did he become a beggar?
c. What did he choose in the end?