n to have self-respect, without a penny in
his pocket?"

"You just showed me pounds."

"Yes, now."

"How did you come by it, Hendon?"

"Don't ask," he cried impatiently. "Take it, and pay that poor girl
some wages on account, and give young Bob a tightener. Don't be so
squeamish, Rich."

"I will not take the money. You deceived me once before."

"Well, if I'd told you I won it at pool you wouldn't have taken it."

"No," said Rich firmly, "I would sooner have lived on dry bread. This
money, then, is part of some gambling transaction?"

"It isn't."

"Then how did you come by it?"

"Well, then, if you will have it, Poynter lent it to me."

"Oh, Hendon, Hendon, has it come to this?" cried Richmond piteously.

"Yes, it has. What is a fellow to do? Home's wretched; one never has a
shilling. The guvnor's mad over his essence, as he calls it, and I
believe, if he saw us starve, he would smile and sigh."

"No, no. He is so intent upon his discovery, that he does not realise
our position."

"His discovery! Bah! Lunacy! There isn't a fellow at Guy's who
wouldn't laugh at me if I told him what the guvnor does. Rich, old
girl, I'm sick of it! It was madness for me to go through all this
training, when I might have been earning money as porter or a clerk.
Everything has been swallowed up in the fees. Why, if Jem Poynter
hadn't come forward like a man, and paid the last--"

"What?"

"Well, what are you shouting at?"

"Did Mr Poynter pay your last fees at Guy's?"

"Of course he did. Do you suppose the money was caught at the bottom of
a spout after a shower?"

"Hendon, dear Hendon!"

"There, it's no use to be so squeamish. If those last hadn't been paid,
it would have been like throwing away all that had been paid before."

"I did not know of this--I did not know of this!"

"Don't, don't, dear! I couldn't help it. I used to feel as bad as you
do; but this cursed poverty hardens a man. I fought against it; but
Poynter was always after me, tempting me, standing dinners when I was as
hungry as a hound; giving me wine and cigars. He has almost forced
money on me lots of times; and at--at other times--when I've had a few
glasses--I haven't refused it. It's all Janet's fault."

"Hendon!"

"Well, so it is!" cried the young fellow passionately. "If she hadn't
thrown me over as she did--"

"To save you from additional poverty."

"No, it didn't; it made me desperate, and ready to drink whe