J. J. Bell

“ Silly ass backed bills for a pal and lost every stiver he had—thousands, I believe."
"Oh, poor man!"
"If a chap plays that sort of mug's game, he deserves to suffer," observed Ronnie, with all the virtuous superiority of youth. "Wonder where he's got the money now?"
"Sold a picture, I should think."
"Alan Moore's pictures don't sell—at least, they didn't. Not a bad-looking chap, all the same."
"He looks as if he had been ill," she remarked, and then her brother directed her attention to a fragile-looking woman, with sturdy ankles, who wrote what he termed "mystic poetry—awful rot." ”

“ Now, had Anna been less "reasonable," it is possible that the manager would have been more discreet. He held out his hand, and the cashier gave him a hundred-pound note.
"It is, of course, impossible," said the manager, whose private business motto was "You never can tell," and paused for a moment, regarding the paper. "This note was paid in a few minutes ago by a customer who is known to us. It can be only a coincidence that it bears a stamp similar to the one Madame has described. The Union Bank is a large concern. ”

“ Yet what a day it had been, waiting in the chilly, unprovisioned studio since eight o'clock for the cheque promised by the wealthy patron, which cheque the postman had never brought! Until the last delivery was past, he had hoped against hope, figuring to himself a meal of delicate food, finely cooked, exquisitely served. ”

“ Manager and cashier eyed each other.
As she was making her way to the lounge, Alan Moore came from the restaurant, looking neither to right nor left. At that moment Anna's predominant feelings were those of anger and disgust, but at the sight of the white, set face—a mask of despair it seemed to her—though the anger remained, the disgust was overborne by a sudden pity. "How can he be a mean thief—that nice-looking boy?" Yet she was certain that the note was hers ”

“ He folded and dropped in the paper, and closed the bag. He rose, swayed a little, steadied himself, and passed out of the lounge in the direction of the cloakroom.
And then some crazy impulse sent him right about and into the restaurant. He had only borrowed the money! People were beginning to leave for the theatres. The head waiter, recognising him, got him a small table to himself. ”