l salary that I couldn't think of going away to the
seaside, or anything like that. I remember one of the other men wanted
me to come with him on a walking tour in Kent. I should have liked that,
but the money wouldn't run to it. And do you know what I did? I lived in
Great College Street then, and the first day I was off, I stayed in bed
till past dinner-time, and lounged about in an arm-chair with a pipe all
the afternoon. I had got a new kind of tobacco--one and four for the
two-ounce packet--much dearer than I could afford to smoke, and I was
enjoying it immensely. It was awfully hot, and when I shut the window
and drew down the red blind it grew hotter; at five o'clock the room was
like an oven. But I was so pleased at not having to go into the City,
that I didn't mind anything, and now and again I read bits from a queer
old book that had belonged to my poor dad. I couldn't make out what a
lot of it meant, but it fitted in somehow, and I read and smoked till
tea-time. Then I went out for a walk, thinking I should be better for a
little fresh air before I went to bed; and I went wandering away, not
much noticing where I was going, turning here and there as the fancy
took me. I must have gone miles and miles, and a good many of them round
and round, as they say they do in Australia if they lose their way in
the bush; and I am sure I couldn't have gone exactly the same way all
over again for any money. Anyhow, I was still in the streets when the
twilight came on, and the lamp-lighters were trotting round from one
lamp to another. It was a wonderful night: I wish you had been there, my
dear.'

'I was quite a little girl then.'

'Yes, I suppose you were. Well, it was a wonderful night. I remember, I
was walking in a little street of little grey houses all alike, with
stucco copings and stucco door-posts; there were brass plates on a lot
of the doors, and one had "Maker of Shell Boxes" on it, and I was quite
pleased, as I had often wondered where those boxes and things that you
buy at the seaside came from. A few children were playing about in the
road with some rubbish or other, and men were singing in a small
public-house at the corner, and I happened to look up, and I noticed
what a wonderful colour the sky had turned. I have seen it since, but I
don't think it has ever been quite what it was that night, a dark blue,
glowing like a violet, just as they say the sky looks in foreign
countries. I don't know why, but the