which is always the
great charm of a city, after the offensive publicity of the country.

When I turned out with my brass plate, my trunk, and my hat-box upon the
Birchespool platform, I sat down and wondered what my first move should
be. Every penny was going to be of the most vital importance to me,
and I must plan things within the compass of that tiny purse. As I
sat pondering, there came a sight of interest, for I heard a burst of
cheering with the blare of a band upon the other side of the station,
and then the pioneers and leading files of a regiment came swinging on
to the platform. They wore white sun-hats, and were leaving for Malta,
in anticipation of war in Egypt. They were young soldiers--English by
the white facings--with a colonel whose moustache reached his shoulders,
and a number of fresh-faced long-legged subalterns. I chiefly remember
one of the colour-sergeants, a man of immense size and ferocious face,
who leaned upon his Martini, with two little white kittens peeping over
either shoulder from the flaps of his knapsack. I was so moved at the
sight of these youngsters going out to do their best for the dear old
country, that I sprang up on my box, took off my hat, and gave them
three cheers. At first the folk on my side looked at me in their bovine
fashion--like a row of cows over a wall. At the second a good many
joined, and at the third my own voice was entirely lost. So I turned to
go my way, and the soldier laddies to go theirs; and I wondered which of
us had the stiffest and longest fight before us.

I left my baggage at the office, and jumped into a tramcar which was
passing the station, with the intention of looking for lodgings, as
I judged that they would be cheaper than an hotel. The conductor
interested himself in my wants in that personal way which makes me think
that the poorer classes in England are one of the kindliest races on
earth. Policemen, postmen, railway guards, busmen, what good helpful
fellows they all are! This one reckoned the whole thing out, how this
street was central but dear, and the other was out-of-the-way but cheap,
and finally dropped me at a medium shabby-genteel kind of thoroughfare
called Cadogan Terrace, with instructions that I was to go down there
and see how I liked it.

I could not complain of a limited selection, for a "to let" or
"apartments" was peeping out of every second window. I went into the
first attractive house that I saw, and interviewed the