Dick looked down the long lightless
streets and at the appalling rush of traffic.
streets and at the appalling rush of traffic.
Kipling - Poems
"Am I that?
" he screamed.
"Will you take that away
with you and show all the world that it is I,--Binat? " He moaned and
wept.
"Monsieur has paid for all," said Madame. "To the pleasure of seeing
Monsieur again. "
The courtyard gate shut, and Dick hurried up the sandy street to the
nearest gambling-hell, where he was well known. "If the luck holds, it's
an omen; if I lose, I must stay here. " He placed his money picturesquely
about the board, hardly daring to look at what he did. The luck held.
Three turns of the wheel left him richer by twenty pounds, and he went
down to the shipping to make friends with the captain of a decayed
cargo-steamer, who landed him in London with fewer pounds in his pocket
than he cared to think about.
A thin gray fog hung over the city, and the streets were very cold; for
summer was in England.
"It's a cheerful wilderness, and it hasn't the knack of altering much,"
Dick thought, as he tramped from the Docks westward. "Now, what must I
do? "
The packed houses gave no answer.
Dick looked down the long lightless
streets and at the appalling rush of traffic. "Oh, you rabbit-hutches! "
said he, addressing a row of highly respectable semi-detached
residences. "Do you know what you've got to do later on? You have to
supply me with men-servants and maid-servants,"--here he smacked his
lips,--"and the peculiar treasure of kings. Meantime I'll clothes and
boots, and presently I will return and trample on you. " He stepped
forward energetically; he saw that one of his shoes was burst at the
side. As he stooped to make investigations, a man jostled him into the
gutter. "All right," he said. "That's another nick in the score. I'll
jostle you later on. "
Good clothes and boots are not cheap, and Dick left his last shop with
the certainty that he would be respectably arrayed for a time, but with
only fifty shillings in his pocket. He returned to streets by the Docks,
and lodged himself in one room, where the sheets on the bed were almost
audibly marked in case of theft, and where nobody seemed to go to bed at
all. When his clothes arrived he sought the Central Southern Syndicate
for Torpenhow's address, and got it, with the intimation that there was
still some money waiting for him.
"How much? " said Dick, as one who habitually dealt in millions.
with you and show all the world that it is I,--Binat? " He moaned and
wept.
"Monsieur has paid for all," said Madame. "To the pleasure of seeing
Monsieur again. "
The courtyard gate shut, and Dick hurried up the sandy street to the
nearest gambling-hell, where he was well known. "If the luck holds, it's
an omen; if I lose, I must stay here. " He placed his money picturesquely
about the board, hardly daring to look at what he did. The luck held.
Three turns of the wheel left him richer by twenty pounds, and he went
down to the shipping to make friends with the captain of a decayed
cargo-steamer, who landed him in London with fewer pounds in his pocket
than he cared to think about.
A thin gray fog hung over the city, and the streets were very cold; for
summer was in England.
"It's a cheerful wilderness, and it hasn't the knack of altering much,"
Dick thought, as he tramped from the Docks westward. "Now, what must I
do? "
The packed houses gave no answer.
Dick looked down the long lightless
streets and at the appalling rush of traffic. "Oh, you rabbit-hutches! "
said he, addressing a row of highly respectable semi-detached
residences. "Do you know what you've got to do later on? You have to
supply me with men-servants and maid-servants,"--here he smacked his
lips,--"and the peculiar treasure of kings. Meantime I'll clothes and
boots, and presently I will return and trample on you. " He stepped
forward energetically; he saw that one of his shoes was burst at the
side. As he stooped to make investigations, a man jostled him into the
gutter. "All right," he said. "That's another nick in the score. I'll
jostle you later on. "
Good clothes and boots are not cheap, and Dick left his last shop with
the certainty that he would be respectably arrayed for a time, but with
only fifty shillings in his pocket. He returned to streets by the Docks,
and lodged himself in one room, where the sheets on the bed were almost
audibly marked in case of theft, and where nobody seemed to go to bed at
all. When his clothes arrived he sought the Central Southern Syndicate
for Torpenhow's address, and got it, with the intimation that there was
still some money waiting for him.
"How much? " said Dick, as one who habitually dealt in millions.
