His bed-
fellows (so to call them) were less active; they lay
sprawled upon the grass and benches, the dingy men, the
frowsy women, prolonging their late repose; and Carthew
wandered among the sleeping bodies alone, and cursed
the incurable stupidity of his behaviour. Day brought
a new society of nursery-maids and children, and fresh-
dressed and (I am sorry to say) tight-laced maidens,
and gay people in rich traps; upon the skirts of which
Carthew and "the other blackguards"--his own bitter
phrase--skulked, and chewed grass, and looked on. Day
passed, the light died, the green and leafy precinct
sparkled with lamps or lay in shadow, and the round of
the night began again--the loitering women, the lurking
men, the sudden outburst of screams, the sound of
flying feet "You mayn't believe it," says Carthew, "but
I got to that pitch that I didn't care a hang. I have
been wakened out of my sleep to hear a woman screaming,
and I have only turned upon my other side. Yes, it's a
queer place, where the dowagers and the kids walk all
day, and at night you can hear people bawling for help
as if it was the Forest of Bondy, with the lights of a
great town all round, and parties spinning through in
cabs from Government House and dinner with my lord!"
It was Norris's diversion, having none other, to scrape
acquaintance, where, how, and with whom he could.
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