to the
humility which would have seen in this change of fortune a mere
surrender of privileges perhaps quite unjustifiable. Social grades were
an inseparable part of his view of life; he recognised the existence of
his superiors--though resolved to have as little to do with them as
possible, and took it as a matter of course that multitudes of men
should stand below his level. To imagine himself an object of pity for
Mrs. Hopper and Allchin and the rest of them wrought upon his bile,
disordered his digestion.

He who had regarded so impatiently the trials of Norbert Franks now had
to go through an evil time, with worse results upon his temper, his
health, and whole being, than he would have thought conceivable. For a
whole fortnight he lived in a state of suspense and forced idleness,
which helped him to understand the artist's recourse to gin and
laudanum. The weather was magnificent, but for him no sun rose in the
sky. If he walked about London, he saw only ugliness and wretchedness,
his eyes seeming to have lost the power of perceiving other things.
Every two or three days he heard from Sherwood, who wrote that he was
doing his utmost, and continued to hold out hope that he would soon
have money: but these letters were not reassuring. The disagreeable
interview with Applegarth had passed off better than might have been
expected. Though greatly astonished, and obviously in some doubt as to
the facts of the matter, Applegarth behaved as a gentleman, resigned
all claims upon the defaulters, and brought the affair to a decent
close as quickly as possible. But Warburton came away with a face so
yellow that he seemed on the point of an attack of jaundice. For him to
be the object of another man's generous forbearance was something new
and intolerable. Before parting with Sherwood, he spoke to him
bitterly, all but savagely. A few hours later, of course, repentance
came upon him, and he wrote to ask pardon. An evil time.

At length Sherwood came to Chelsea, having written to ask for a
meeting. Will's forebodings were but too well justified. The disastrous
man came only to say that all his efforts had failed. His debtor for
ten thousand pounds was himself in such straits that he could only live
by desperate expedients, and probably would not be able to pay a penny
of interest this year.

"Happily," said Sherwood, "his father's health is breaking. One is
obliged to talk in this brutal way, you know. At the father's death