He said that a Mr Cheeseman, a bookseller
inLambeth, was looking for an assistant.
Yet Mr Cheeseman did not seem absolutely
unfriendly.
Ravelston had introduced Gordon to Hermione acouple
of days ago, and she had treated him like dirt.
Now that he was alone, hope had deserted
him.
From timeto time Gordon made feeble efforts to
escape, which always ended inthe same way.
Gordon came in, a dishevelledfigure almost lost in
the borrowed silk pyjamas.
Once again the tears came into her eyes,and once
again she fought them back.
You were just part of the slum, and, like
allslum-dwellers, taken for granted.
Recently, he told Gordon, he had had an idea for a
profitable side-line.
He looked up at Gordon with a kind of nosy malice.
But now it was precisely from decencythat he wanted to escape.
Another ofRavelstons pet scroungers, they all
said.
I like keep mi money i mi pocket, he explained,
with an upwardglance, as they went into the office.
MrsMeakin, the landlady, inhabited some burrow or
other in thebasement. I likes all my lodgers tofeel comfortable-like.
Besides, where couldyou go if you didnt stay here?
It is agood world that they inhabit, down there in their frowzy kips
andspikes.
And chiefly he was anxious to get it overwith as
little fuss and effort as possible.
Also it was obvious that he had not shaved that
day.
They searched hurriedlythrough the police-court
news. It was the first time she had everspoken to him like this. It wasnt the kind
of thing you could keep dark. Gordon plucked up hiscourage and went in. He must have
been very drunk to say athing like that.
This gavehim, in walking, a resemblance to a pair
of scissors. She had made things more difficult for him by coming here.
All you got was a cup of tea and twoslices of bread
and marg.
He said that a Mr Cheeseman, a bookseller
inLambeth, was looking for an assistant.
There was a syphon of soda water on the bed-table.
It seemed quite natural to Ravelston to waste several days ingetting Gordon out of
his scrape. He was strangely solicitous about Gordon. Everyone Gordon knew seemed to
bewriting him letters, pitying him or bullying him.