E. Phillips Oppenheim

“ Fred continued softly, with his eyes fixed upon me; "fancy a strong fresh sea breeze, just a dash of brine in it you know, and sunshine fresh from heaven—not focussed upon us through the fogs and evil odours of this Sodom of a city! Bah! Isn't it enough to make a man sick with longing?"
"It is," I groaned. "Pass the tobacco and shut up."
I relit my pipe, and Fred followed suit. The blue cloud around us grew thicker, and our hearts grew heavier. Then came Dick bounding into the room with hot, eager face and a roar of greeting. ”

“ Fred continued, "she thinks the same of us. We are nearly always behind with our rent. We earn just enough to keep body and soul together—and only just enough. There is not a woman in the whole building. It is not a fit place for women." ”

“ I let him be. A fellow with grit in him gets over those things better without sympathy. I too had spent nights like that. Memory is a sweet torturer; yet who would not sometimes be a victim?
We sold our pictures well, and we went to work in grim earnest. A month passed. Then, one night, there was a timid knock at the door, and she walked in.
I sprang to my feet and stood between them. Fred was off his guard with a sudden joy, and had I not been there she would have been in his arms.
"Miss Chesham!" I exclaimed breathlessly. "Are you alone?" ”

“ I read poetry among the cliffs, and now and then I began to dream again. Not altogether happy dreams are those when youth—or, at any rate, youth's most buoyant season—has gone, and a bushel of bright hopes has changed into a handful of dry sticks. ”

“ We were boys again, animal creatures only, glorying in our strength, and the power of cleaving those long blue waves, whose murmuring and gurgling in our ears was like the sweetest of all music. Stroke for stroke, shoulder to shoulder, through the cool, rushing waters we swam. ”

“ She held out her hand to the girl, and I breathed freely.
"I had hoped, Owen," she said, with a shade of reproach in her tone, "that the first favour you have thought fit to ask me would have been for yourself. However, I shall be exceedingly glad to receive Miss Chesham. I know her father quite well."
I left them together, and walked back with a sense of huge relief. Fred was striding up and down the studio waiting for me.
"I have left her at my aunt's in Hereford Gardens," I said. "She will be all right there."
"You are a brick," he declared. ”

“ I snatched up my hat, and, hastily slipping off my smock, put on my most decent coat.
"Miss Chesham," I said firmly, "will you come with me, please?"
She stood up, wiping her eyes.
"No, I won't!" she answered. "I hate you! Fred!"
He shook his head, and kept away from her.
"You don't seem to understand," he said quietly. "Look around you. This is where and how we live. How——"
"It's all right, only it wants a good cleaning," she interposed. "Those cabinets are dreadful. Your landlady ought to be ashamed of herself." ”

“ Our ways are not Mayfair ways, neither are our clothes. It's good of you to want us, but it's no go. We shouldn't be comfortable, and you wouldn't."
"And as to shooting," Fred put in, "we haven't a gun between us, nor any of the rig-out. Owen's quite right. We 're glad to see you here, Dick, and we 're glad—jolly glad—that you don't forget us. I hope we 'll always be pals—the three of us—and all that; but it's no use closing our eyes to facts, is it? You belong to a different world now. ”

“ I saw an advertisement in last week's Field—Bungalow to let on the Norfolk coast, close to sea; bathing, fishing, golf, and all the rest of it. I went down the day before yesterday and took it straight away. Now listen to me seriously. This is not a request; it is not an invitation. I insist upon it. You two fellows have just got to pack up and go down with me to-morrow. Not one other soul is going to be there except the servants. We 'll have a glorious time. You can make it pay too! Lots of pretty bits among the cliffs, and such a sea! Fred, old boy, it's on, isn't it? ”