o be holding me affectionately, I
cudgelled my brains to devise some method of circumventing him.

At last, as we were close to Duke Street, Oxford Street, a bold plan
flashed across my mind. Whatever was done, it should be attempted while
there were some people about, to whom, in the last resort, I might
denounce Mr. Parsons; and yet I did not wish my actual deed to have a
spectator, since any one who saw me treat such a benevolent-looking old
gentleman as I fully intended to treat Mr. Parsons must think I was a
young rascal.

He hesitated a moment at the corner, and then turned to his right down
Duke Street, and I fancied that he looked forward with some enjoyment to
the threatened 'little lesson.' A short distance ahead stood a
policeman at a street corner, and, as we approached, I looked up into
Mr. Parsons' face and summoned all my courage--it was certainly the
courage of despair.

'If you don't let me go,' I said, 'I will tell that policeman who you
are as we pass.'

In an instant he had swung me round to retrace his steps, but, doubling
my free fist, I drew back my arm and hit him with all my strength just
about the belt. The effect was instantaneous. Releasing me at once, he
was completely doubled up, standing in the middle of the pavement
outside a grocer's shop, his hands pressed against his body, gasping for
breath. Fortunately no one had seen the blow struck, though Mr. Parsons
was soon surrounded by a gaping, sympathetic group. I took to my heels
at once, almost running against the policeman, and turned to my right,
in the direction opposite to that of Mr. Parsons' dwelling-place. Soon,
however, I ceased to run, feeling fairly certain that I should not see
him again--that day, at least. And as I walked--still towards the
City--I tried to take stock of my situation.

Besides the clothes I stood in, I possessed only a bad half-crown, and
although I had, under compulsion, changed similar coins for Parsons, I
had no intention of defrauding anybody on my own account. Taking the
coin from my pocket, I stooped and dropped it down a grating. Now that I
had nothing, I determined to risk a visit to the Albany, which I
reached--always on the look-out for Mr. Parsons--at a little past two
o'clock. Nothing, however, but disappointment awaited me here. I saw a
man who appeared to be a kind of porter, and he told me that Captain
Knowlton had given up the rooms on leaving London--a fact which I knew
perfectly well al