me sandwiches. Get a lot, will you. This chap in front of me
doesn't look as if he'd brought anything!"

"You could get a commission, Gilbert, easily," Henry said.

"I don't think I should be much good as an officer, Quinny.... Go and
get the sandwiches like a decent chap!"

Henry went away to do as Gilbert had bidden him, and after a while, he
returned with a big packet of sandwiches and apples.

"I shan't wait, Gilbert," he said. "I can't stand about all day. I'll
come back when the rush is over...."

"But why, Quinny?"

"I'm going to join, too, with you!..."

"You're going to join?... That's awf'lly decent of you, Quinny!"

"Decent! Why? It isn't any more decent than your joining is!"

"P'raps not, but I always think it's very decent of an Irishman to fight
for England. If there doesn't seem any chance of my getting in to-day,
I'll come back to tea. There's a fellow here says this is the second day
he's been waiting!"

Henry went away. He walked along the Embankment towards Blackfriars, and
when he had reached the Temple, he turned up one of the steep streets
that link the Embankment to Fleet Street.

"I'll go and see Delap," he said to himself.

Delap was the editor of a weekly paper for which Henry had sometimes
written articles. Delap, however, was not at the office, but Bundy, the
manager of the paper, who was also the financier, was there.

"It's all up with us," said Bundy. "We're closing down next week!"

"Closing down!"

"Yes. We're bust. Damn it, we're getting on splendidly, too. Just
turning the corner! We should have had a magnificent autumn if it hadn't
been for this...."

He came away from Bundy, and walked aimlessly down Fleet Street. "Lots
of other people would have had a fine autumn if it hadn't been for
this," he thought to himself, and then he saw Leadenham and Crowborough,
who worked on the _Cottenham Guardian_. They were very pale and
tired-looking.

"Hilloa!" he said, slapping Leadenham on the back.

Leadenham jumped ... startled! "Oh, it's you," he said, smiling weakly.

"Yes. What's up? You look frightened!" He turned to greet Crowborough.

"Well, we're all rather jiggered by this," Leadenham replied. "We're
going to get something to eat. Come with us?"

They went into a tea-shop and sat down. "Is the _Guardian_ all right?"
Henry asked.

"Oh, yes," said Leadenham wearily, "as right as anything is. Nobody in
Fleet Street knows how long his job'll last. Half the men on