who was even yet undecided what course to adopt, would have
offered her his aid; but the instant she acted on the defensive his
mind was made up; a mad spirit of self-preservation swept over
him--and dashing the chairs on the ground at her feet, he seized the
sausages, and flew after Curtis.

Ten minutes later, Curtis and Kelson, their arms full of spoil,
clambered up the staircase of their lodgings, and reeled into their
room.

"Look!" Curtis gasped, sinking into the chair. "Look and see if we are
followed!"

"There's no one about!" Kelson whispered, peering cautiously out of
the window. "Not a soul! I don't believe after that first rush across
Rutter Street, any one noticed us. To leave off running was far the
best thing to do. You are a perfect genius, Ed. I wonder if this sort
of thing--er--thieving--is dormant in most of us? I say, old fellow, I
wish I hadn't looked at that book of Hamar's. Do you know, directly I
took it up, an extraordinary sensation of cunning came over me; and I
declare, when I put it down, I felt it would take very little to make
me a criminal!"

"We're both criminals now--in the eyes of the law--anyway!" Curtis
said. "And now we've got so far there's no alternative but to go on!
It's easier for a hundred camels to pass through the eye of a needle
than for a clerk to get work, that's a fact. The markets are
hopelessly overstocked--no one wants us! No one helps us! No one even
thinks about us. The labouring man gets pity and cents galore--we get
nothing!--nothing but rotten pay whilst we work, and when we're out of
work, dosshouses or kerbstones. D--n clerks, I say. D--n everything!
There's no justice in creation--there's no justice in anything--and
the only people who prate of it are those who have never known what it
is to want. Say, when shall we take the next lot?"

"When we're obliged, not before!" Kelson said. "Or rather, you do as
you like--and I'll do the same."

"Well, I'm not going to commit suicide anyhow," Curtis sneered. "We
haven't the money to buy poison--and I've no mind to drown myself or
cut my throat--they're too painful! If we don't go on doing what we've
done to-night, what are we going to do?"

"Trust to luck," Kelson sighed.

"All right--you trust to luck--but I won't trust any more in
Providence, and that's a fact," Curtis retorted. "We've been done
enough. Now I'm for doing other people. Good-night."

He tumbled into the makeshift bed as he spoke; and in a