He forgot his necessary errands, he
forgot to eat. He wandered in moving multitudes like a
stick upon a river. Last he came to the Domain and
strolled there, and remembered his shame and
sufferings, and looked with poignant curiosity at his
successors. Hemstead, not much shabbier and no less
cheerful than before, he recognised and addressed like
an old family friend.
"That was a good turn you did me," said he. "That
railway was the making of me. I hope you've had luck
yourself."
"My word, no!" replied the little man. "I just sit
here and read the DEAD BIRD. It's the depression
in tryde, you see. There's no positions goin' that a
man like me would care to look at." And he showed
Norris his certificates and written characters, one
from a grocer in Wooloomooloo, one from an ironmonger,
and a third from a billiard saloon. "Yes," he said, "I
tried bein' a billiard-marker. It's no account; these
lyte hours are no use for a man's health. I won't be
no man's slyve," he added firmly.
On the principle that he who is too proud to be a slave
is usually not too modest to become a pensioner,
Carthew gave him half a sovereign and departed, being
suddenly struck with hunger, in the direction of the
Paris House.
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