he
same thing--it had always been so, even as far back as the old times
in India. That day he lost at something, that at least was clear; then
there was more whisky and soda and more losses, and perhaps more
whisky again; and so on until late in the afternoon, he found himself
standing, miserable and bewildered, in the main street of the town.
Some one had brought him there, a good-natured young fellow who
thought, not that he had spent all he ought, but that he had drunk all
he should.

"Not used to it, you know," he had said with good-humoured apology;
"been rusticating out of the way so long. Better come out and get a
breath of air, it'll pull you together."

And he persuaded him out, walked some way down the street with him and
then, seeing that he seemed all right, left him and went to attend to
his own business.

For a little the Captain stood where he was, the depression, begotten
of whisky and his losses, growing upon him in the old overwhelming
way. No one took any notice of him; passers by jostled against him,
for the pavement was rather narrow, but no one paid any attention to
him. The bustle bewildered his weak head, and the noise and movement
of the traffic in the roadway irritated him unreasonably. A youth ran
into him and he exploded angrily with sudden weak unrestrained fury.
Thereat the boy laughed, and, when he shouted and stamped his foot,
ran away saying something impudent. The Captain turned to run after
him shaking his stick; but he was stiff and rheumatic and weak on his
legs, too, just now. It was no use to try and run. Of course it was no
use, nothing was any use now, he was a miserable failure, he could not
even run after a boy; he must bear every one's taunts; he could almost
have wept in self-pity. Then he became aware that several passers by
were looking at him curiously, arrested by the noise he had made.
Annoyed and ashamed he turned his back on them and pretended to be
examining the goods in a shop window near.

It was a large draper's, rather a cheap one; the better shops were
higher up the street. In this one the things were all priced and
labelled plainly; the Captain at first did not notice this one way or
the other; he simply looked in to cover his confusion. But after a
little he became aware of what he looked at, and it recalled to his
mind the fact that he was going to buy something for Julia. He did not
quite know what, he had had large ideas at one time; they had had to
be