n. "You 'op it, mister," she said, "or you'll
get 'urt!" She pushed him out of the crowd, slapping a lad in the face
who had jostled him and said, "Gawblimey, look at Percy!" and when she
had got him away from them, she told him again to 'op it.

"Thank you!..." he began.

"Don't you wyste no time, mister, but 'op it quick," she interrupted,
giving him a push forward.

"But I don't know where I am," he replied.

"Dunno w'ere you are!... Well, of course, you look like that! You're in
Bermondsey, mister, an' if you tyke my advice you'll go 'ome an' sty
'ome. People like you didden ought to be let out alone! You go 'ome to
your mother, sir! The first turnin' on the right'll bring you to the
trams...."

He did as she told him, hurrying away from the dark street as quickly as
he could. He was trembling. Every nerve in his body seemed to be
strained, and his eyes had the tired feel they always had when he was
deeply agitated.

"My God," he said, "what an ass I was to do that!"

7

Gilbert and Roger were sitting together when he got home.

"Hilloa, Quinny!" Gilbert exclaimed as he looked at Henry's white face.
"What have you been up to?"

He told them of his adventure in Bermondsey.

"You do do some damn funny things, Quinny!" said Gilbert, going to the
sideboard and getting out the whisky. "Here, have a drop of this stuff.
You look completely pipped!"

"I don't think I should make a habit of knight-errantry, if I were you,"
said Roger. "Not in slums at all events!"

"Has Ninian come back yet?" Henry asked, sipping the whisky.

"He's gone to bed. The _Gigantic_ got off all right, but there was
trouble at the start. She fouled a cruiser or something. Ninian's full
of it. He'll tell you the whole rigmarole in the morning. You'd better
trot off to bed when you've drunk that, and for God's sake, Quinny,
don't try to be heroic again. You're not cut out for that sort of
job!..."

THE EIGHTH CHAPTER

1

Mrs. Graham and Mary and Rachel Wynne dined with them on the first night
of "The Magic Casement." Rachel, fresh from a Care Committee, composed
mostly of members of the Charity Organisation Society and the wives of
prosperous tradesmen, was inclined to tell the world what she thought of
it, but they diverted her mind from the iniquities of the Care Committee
by congratulating her on her engagement to Roger. She blushed and gave
her thanks in stammers, looking with bright, proud eyes at Roger; and
when