the Five
Towns, it was said, could do that. His slender convex silver
cigarette-case invariably contained the only cigarettes worthy of the
palate of a connoisseur, as his pipes were invariably the only pipes fit
for the combustion of truly high-class tobacco. Old women, especially
charwomen, adored him, and even municipal seigniors admitted that Harry
was a smart-looking youth. Fatherless, he was the heir to a tolerable
fortune, the bulk of which, during his mother's life, he could not touch
save with her consent; but his mother and his sister seemed to exist
chiefly for his convenience. His fair hair and his facile smile
vanquished them, and vanquished most other people also; and already,
when he happened to be crossed, there would appear on his winning face
the pouting, hard, resentful lines of the man who has learnt to accept
compliance as a right. He had small intellectual power, and no ambition
at all. A considerable part of his prospective fortune was invested in
the admirable shares of the Birmingham, Sheffield and District Bank, and
it pleased him to sit on a stool in the Bursley branch of this bank,
since he wanted, _pro tempore_, a dignified avocation without either the
anxieties of trade or the competitive tests of a profession. He was a
beautiful bank clerk; but he had once thrown a bundle of cheques into
the office fire while aiming at a basket on the mantelpiece; the whole
banking world would have been agitated and disorganised had not another
clerk snatched the bundle from peril at the expense of his own fingers:
the incident, still legendary behind the counter of the establishment at
the top of St. Luke's Square, kept Harry awake to the seriousness of
life for several weeks.

'Well, Harry,' said Leonora with languid good nature. He paid his homage
in form to the mistress of the house; raised his eyebrows at Milly, who
returned the gesture; smiled upon Ethel, who feebly waved a hand as if
too exhausted to do more; and then sat down on the piano-stool,
carefully easing the strain on his trousers at the knees and exposing an
inch of fine wool socks above his American boots. He was a familiar of
the house, and had had the unconditional _entree_ since he and the
Stanway girls first went to the High Schools at Oldcastle.

'I hope I haven't disturbed your beauty sleep--any of you,' was his
opening remark.

'Yes, you have,' said Ethel.

He continued: 'I just came in to seek a little temporary relief from
t