Ralph Stock

“ Strode was looking himself, to the exclusion of all else. He had been groping so long in the dark that this sudden ray of light was too much for him. It conjured visions. "I could get out," he babbled, "out and away—to where there's room to move, and breathe, and——"
"Live," supplied Agnes.
"Yes, that's it, live. I——" Of a sudden he realised what his unconscious rescuer had said. Was she so unconscious, after all? How much could a woman read in a man's face? ”

“ This admission of weakness on his part will give a bad impression of James Strode, and a first impression at that. Anyone in passably comfortable circumstances, or in whom the twin flames of hope and illusion still burn high, will say that to harbour such a notion for one instant brands the fellow a coward or a lunatic, and that he has no desire for further acquaintance with him. It cannot be helped. ”

“ One had to join the procession to be taken seriously, and he couldn't stand that, either. What was he that every recognised avenue of escape seemed closed to him? How was it that he found himself physically incapable of "using" people, of accepting hospitality, charity, influence, any one of those things that others seemed able to look upon as their right? He did not know . He only knew that it was ineradicably so.
There are deeps below deeps of human habitation in London, and in a Pimlico lodging house Strode fancied he had reached bedrock. ”

“ The absurd sound was caused by nothing more than Agnes conveying a chocolate to her mouth. Of course! He mustn't be a fool. He mustn't lose grip of himself. He was at the movies with a housemaid. And why was she showing such interest in him and his affairs? Because she was earning an evening's entertainment and a box of chocolates in the only way she knew how. ”

“ Norah manipulated the teapot with large, capable hands. "It really is the limit," she observed. "Everyone worth knowing is looking for work these days. One'd think it's a new game or something. There's no one left to do anything with, except old men who say they're as young as they feel, and then lie and gasp after a set of rabbit singles. I don't know what's happening to everybody, but they're different. You're different."
"Sorry," murmured Strode. ”

“ Yet now, in these extraordinary times of peace, when all that is required of a young man without means, influence, or training is a cut-throat struggle for existence, he found himself at a discount, at such a discount that he had come to wonder if the existence were worth the struggle. ”

“ The longest-living author of this work died in 1962, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 61 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works. ”