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肩書を与える:      Here's Luck
Author:     Lennie Lower
* A 事業／計画（する） Gutenberg of Australia eBook *
eBook No.:  0100081h.html
Language:   English
Date first 地位，任命するd:          September 2001
Date most recently updated: February 2013

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Here's Luck

by

Lennie Lower

CHAPTER I

It is 絶対 ridiculous to call a man of forty-eight old. A 制限するd vocabulary might account for such a 発言／述べる, and then of course there are people whose 観察s are superficial and even frivolous.

寺, however, is a man who is never frivolous and I was astounded when he said it.

"Gudgeon," he said, "you're getting old."

"I'm not old!" I 抗議するd.

"You look old!" he 主張するd.

That was a 嘘（をつく）. I pride myself on my looks. I have not a grey hair in my 長，率いる, and 非常に／多数の 知識s have favourably 発言／述べるd on my 外見. I am perhaps, a little under medium 高さ, but then mere 高さ is nothing. Notice the 親族 importance of Napoleon and the giraffe. I have been called fat by envious persons いっそう少なく kindly 扱う／治療するd by nature and there was one who at the 高さ of his jealousy called me "バーレル／樽."

I am not a vain man, but in my own defence I 引用する a 発言／述べる made by the girl in Flannery's saloon 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業 to a f riend.

"I like," she said, "his ruddy, clean-shaven, ingenuous 直面する; and he has such a splendidly 円熟した 人物／姿／数字 and manly 耐えるing."

That, I think, should be 十分な. If, however, I say IF there is the slightest excuse for a 発言／述べる such as 寺 made there is only one excuse for it. It is not age. It's worry.

It's Stanley—and if there is anything within the ken of man more calculated to bring a man's grey hairs in 悲しみ to the 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な, it, whatever it is, is not human.

Stanley is about eighteen or nineteen, I am not sure which, but looks much older than his years. He is taller and thinner than I but さもなければ 似ているs me as closely as can be 推定する／予想するd these days. His 直面する can look 前向きに／確かに cherubic on occasion, but this makes no difference to the fact that he can be a fiend from the blackest 炭坑，オーケストラ席 when he likes. I've had a lot of trouble with him. A few weeks ago he was at that 行う／開催する／段階 where he had given up the idea of 存在 a 著作権侵害者, engine-driver, or 長，指導者 救助者 in the 解雇する／砲火／射撃 旅団, and 手配中の，お尋ね者 to be a poet. He has altered 大いに since, but I would much rather 後部 a platypus than a boy. Problems innumerable beset the conscientious father, but the greatest problem of all is to know in what 貿易（する） or profession the boy will be best fitted to support his old father at a later date.

The 医療の profession, of course, 示唆するs itself すぐに. I have no yearning to have Stanley descend to the familiarity of listening-in to the heart-throbs of the vulgar, and punching people in the ribs and asking if it 傷つけるs. Neither do I wish to stand on one 脚 with my mouth open and say ninety-nine, as I would undoubtedly be compelled to do if he were training for the 医療の profession. His mother would see to that. その上に, 裁判官ing by the number of 離婚 事例／患者s that doctors become entangled in it would seem that the only way some of them can keep their 指名するs untarnished is by the 使用／適用 of a little metal-polish to their 厚かましさ／高級将校連 plate. And whatever else Stanley is, I want him to be untarnished. That is to say, he'd be fool enough to get caught.

I could make a lawyer of him. He really has a talent in that direction. He comes home in the small hours of the morning with an アイロンをかける-覆う？ アリバイ and even the wife can find no chink in his armour of excuses. He is a fountain of fluid eloquence. I'm a bit that way myself: it runs in our family. Still, admitting that lawyers are やめる all 権利 in their place, the trouble is to find the place.

There is the Church. Somehow I don't think he is fitted for it. He hasn't heard the call, so to speak. It seems to be a 証拠不十分 of his, this deafness to calls. Every morning I have to go to his room and pull the bed-着せる／賦与するs off him before he shows any 調印するs of life. This にもかかわらず the fact that his mother has shouted herself 黒人／ボイコット in the 直面する at the foot of the stairs and his aunt has 乱打するd the paint off his door. He did show some 利益／興味 in the 支配する of the 改正 of the 祈り-調書をとる／予約する. His suggestion was to 挿入する cross-word puzzles on 補欠／交替の／交替する pages with blank leaves interspersed here and there for sketches and 公式文書，認めるs to be passed along to fellow 苦しんでいる人s during the sermon. He can be 木造の-長，率いるd, dull and 完全に 欠如（する）ing in imagination when the mood 掴むs him, and taking into consideration these 資産s, I had hopes of a brilliant career for him in the army, but unfortunately he is flatfooted, so his other 資格s go for nothing.

I could, I suppose, put a stiff collar on him, give him a pair of gold cuff-links, a cigarette-支えるもの／所有者, and a couple of fountain-pens and incarcerate him in a 倉庫／問屋; to 現れる at the 満期 of his 宣告，判決 as a 商売／仕事 man: a successful 商売／仕事 man: a man who has won the 権利 to put his thumb in the armhole of his vest and look over the 最高の，を越す of his glasses and grunt. Or I could start him off in the Public Service. There he could remain for about forty years in a more or いっそう少なく comatose 条件 and later be 解任するd from his position of 一時的な Casual Supernumerary Class II clerk with a 年金. The 年金 would not be 十分な to keep me and I could not 耐える the thought of filling in forms, LX2, A3, Folio 9716Q in quadruplicate, digging up birth 証明書s, 令状ing out 言及／関連s for him and getting his finger-prints taken ーするために get him on the waiting-名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる）.

I have read of fathers cutting their sons off with a shilling arid casting them into the world with a clout in one ear and a lot of invaluable advice in the other. And the sons have become celebrated Lord 市長s, bushrangers, 政治家，政治屋s and big 商売／仕事 men. Worked themselves up from newsboys to a position where they can 調印する cheques for thousands without having to 逃げる the country すぐに. I have thought over this 協定 of cutting him off with a shilling—but I cannot spare the shilling. Anyhow, he'd be bound to make a mess of things. And then there's this poet 商売／仕事. He's in love. He 一般に is, more or いっそう少なく.

I thought there was something wrong when he started きれいにする his teeth every hour and oiling his hair and walking stiff legged about the house to 保存する the crease in his trousers. I had the wife give him the onion 実験（する） and when he said he didn't care for onions while his 注目する，もくろむs glistened and his mouth watered—I knew.

"Who's this knobby-膝d, enamel-直面するd giggler you're going out with?" I asked him kindly.

It's always best to be tactful when a boy is like this. They're very 極度の慎重さを要する in the moony 行う／開催する／段階.

We had a bit of a 開会／開廷／会期—a "go in" as they call it. I tried to 推論する／理由 with him. I explained to him about women. I showed him a portrait of his mother as she was when I married her and left the 残り／休憩（する） to his imagination.

I explained to him, that if ever he 設立する himself getting serious with a woman, if he bashed his 長，率いる against a nearby 塀で囲む for about ten minutes instead, he'd feel better for it in the long run. I told him that if he bought himself a hair-shirt and a loud-（衆議院の）議長 he would be just as comfortable as if he was married.

It was useless.

"I love her, father," he said.

Just like that.

"I wish I were a poet, father, that I might 述べる her to you," he murmured lying 支援する on the bed in a 肉親，親類d of rapturous swoon.

That's how the poet idea started.

"Her teeth are like pearls."

"I understand," I said, "mouth like an oyster."

"Her hair—"

"Clipped and stuck to her cheek-bones with saliva."

He ignored me.

"I have basked in the 日光 of her smile—"

"That how you got sunburnt on the 支援する?" I asked.

"Gazing into her 注目する，もくろむs—注目する，もくろむs like two 深い 井戸／弁護士席s—"

"井戸／弁護士席! 井戸／弁護士席!" I said. Rather smart, I thought, but he looked up at me, and, 井戸／弁護士席 sort of looked up at me and looked 負かす／撃墜する on me, if you understand what I mean.

"膝s like a retired Highland piper, I suppose," I said, just to 回復する my composure.

"Her lips!" he muttered, gazing rapturously at the door-knob.

"Ah! her hips. Explain about her hips, my son."

"I said lips, father, not hips," he said disdainfully.

I was a bit disappointed. Still I suppose, I couldn't 推定する／予想する—anyhow he's young yet, and I always was his pal and confidant, more or いっそう少なく. Lord knows, life is dull enough. Anyhow he 主張するd that it was "lips" he said, so I let it go at that.

It was then that he brought out the poem.

He got up from the bed as though in a trance, there was a glazed look about his 注目する，もくろむs, he even forgot about the crease in his trousers as he bent to get the poem from underneath the linoleum.

"If I show you this, father, will you 断言する by all you 持つ／拘留する sacred to keep it secret?" he asked.

His 発言する／表明する has not yet decided whether it is a tenor or a baritone, and he had to change over half-way through. It sounded very emotional. I was rather surprised at the form of the 断言する. When he had 手配中の，お尋ね者 to be a 著作権侵害者 he used to ask me to 断言する by the 血 of my ancestors. Later, after he had been reading some 調書をとる／予約する or other, it had to be done by the 耐えるd of the 利益（をあげる）. What the devil the 耐えるd of the 利益（をあげる） is, I don't know. I 港／避難所't seen so much as a whisker of a 利益（をあげる） in the last few months. Money is の近くに in the city and I 港／避難所't noticed its proximity in the 郊外s. However, after thinking for about three seconds on all I held sacred, I swore.

Then he showed me the poem. I read it out aloud.

When I gaze into her 注目する，もくろむs,
I see blue skies,
And もやs arise,
Her lips, 血-red
From Psyche bled,
始める，決める up a singing in my 長，率いる.
Her little nose—

"I 港／避難所't finished it," he said, 新たな展開ing one foot 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the other.

I pondered for a while.

"Her little nose she loudly blows," I 示唆するd.

"She doesn't!" he cried.

"Untidy little brat. Surely—"

"Father! You must not speak like that of my 未来 wife!" he cried; something after the old 著作権侵害者 manner.

This knocked me. I didn't 推定する／予想する it. Even a man who has been married twenty years can still be surprised at things occasionally. I was astonished. He had certainly rung the bell. Mentally I gave him the choice of a kewpie doll or an aluminium saucepan.

"Wife!" I gasped.

"My wife. My mate," he whispered reverently.

"Hey!" I said. "持つ／拘留する off! Finish. D'you hear me? That's enough. Wife! Pah!"

His mouth fell open a little.

"To think that I should have 後部d a son," I cried; "dandled him on my 膝s, listened to his childish burblings, bought him toffee with （土地などの）細長い一片s on, let him 廃虚 my かみそり shaving a lot of lather off his 直面する; been friend, Roman, 同国人 to him, and then—and then—he tells me to my 直面する, without a blush or the batting of a 独房監禁 eyelash, that he will sell his birthright for a mess of facecream!"

I sank 負かす／撃墜する on the bed, 打ち勝つ.

"To leave his poor old father to 押し進める a peanut cart with a whistle on it in his old age, while he keeps a woman 供給（する）d with shoes, hats, grievances and pet dogs!"

I buried my 直面する in my 手渡すs.

"Father!" said Stanley hoarsely. "Father—Ar! I say—father!"

I remained prostrate. This was the first real 適切な時期 I'd had of trying out his mother's 策略, and I wasn't going to throw it away.

"Father!" he cried theatrically, "I will go away and try to forget! I will give her up and go away. Away—away!" and he tottered out of the room and つまずくd 負かす／撃墜する the stairs.

I sat up. The next thing to do to carry the 実験 to a 結論 was to 嘘（をつく） on the bed motionless and （人命などを）奪う，主張する weakly that I had a splitting 頭痛 and that I forgave everyone, poor downtrodden creature that I was. However there was no one to look at me so I lit my 麻薬を吸う instead. I could hear Stanley downstairs talking to his mother—making trouble. How much, I never guessed but knowing what a young hound he was I began to feel perturbed. Stanley is a hound.

I could hear his aunt's 発言する／表明する too. His aunt is my wife's sister I'll 収容する／認める, and no 疑問 she would make some paralysed deaf mute a good wife—but I'll say no more. After all, 血 is 厚い than water. But then so is soup, and even water is of some use when you can't get anything else—but still, I will say no more.

Never let it be said that I ever said anything derogatory of that parrot-brained Gorgon.

CHAPTER II

I smoked for a while and then went downstairs after 海難救助ing one of my 関係 which Stanley had borrowed and thrown under the bed with the 残り／休憩（する） of his discarded 着せる／賦与するing. One thing about Stanley, he is a methodical boy and pitches his 着せる／賦与するs on the 床に打ち倒す in symmetrical heaps where they can be easily turned over with the foot when anything is 要求するd. The two women were waiting for me at the foot of the stairs when I （機の）カム 負かす／撃墜する. I felt like going 支援する. Stanley's aunt 倍のd her 武器, 発射 a ちらりと見ること at the wife, pursed her lips, and shrugged her shoulders. Without speaking she managed to say that this was the 疫病／悩ます they had been speaking about. I knew すぐに that Stanley had 掴むd his 適切な時期. He's like that. And his mother will 支援する him up in any fool thing so long as I'm made to look ridiculous.

"What have you been doing to Stanley?" snapped the wife.

"Stanley who?" I asked.

Silly, I know, but I wasn't 用意が出来ている.

"What's wrong with him?" I 追加するd.

"He is going away," wailed Agatha, "he is leaving his home!"

Aunt Gertrude spoke up. She has a 発言する／表明する like a knife that has been left stuck in a lemon too long.

"He is going to South Africa to 追跡（する） elephants," she said slowly in a hanged-by-the-neck-till-you-are-dead トン.

Elephants mind you! But I had got used to this sort of thing.

"井戸／弁護士席, 井戸／弁護士席!" I said, "I suppose he'll need to take his lunch; or perhaps he can get lunch over there. I think they do have that sort of thing. Mealies and kopjes and veldts and things. Of course, he'll find it a little different but—"

"John!" said my wife.

If there's anything I hate, it's "John."

"The poor boy is going to South Africa to try to forget. His hopes are 爆破d—"

"Agatha!" I said.

She blushed わずかに.

"To think that the wife of my bosom—"

"Bosom your grandmother!"

There are times when the veneer of refinement peels off Agatha.

She led the way into the 製図／抽選-room. Stanley was there, standing with 武器 倍のd and a look of hopeless 決意 on his 直面する—or 決定するd hopelessness. 適切に 爆破d. He was gazing out the window as if he already saw the elephants 前進するing with writhing tentacles.

Agatha sank into a 議長，司会を務める, suddenly 打ち勝つ.

"He is going to South Africa—to 追跡（する） elephants!" she whispered brokenly. "Elephants! He is going to 追跡（する） them in South Africa!" she moaned. "Elephants—Africa—South!"

"追跡（する）—going—to," I 追加するd, to help her out of the mess.

Aunt Gertrude 匂いをかぐd.

Her 匂いをかぐs remind me somehow, of the 乾燥した，日照りのd husk-like 肌 of a snake, after it has been shed.

"Ah, Stanley!" moaned the wife, warming up to the work. "Don't go to South Africa!"

It made me mad to see her pretending to take him 本気で.

"I will. I am. I shall—must!" said Stanley.

I could see that with all the 激励 he was getting he had become rather taken with the idea.

"But, Stanley—it's so far away! Couldn't you go to the zoo?"

"Zoo!" hooted Stanley. "Zoo! What zoo!"

It sounded like the war-cry of the Randwick Rovers.

His 注目する，もくろむ-balls seemed to pop out.

"I don't want those lop-eared, peanut elephants! I want elephants that are wild! That crouch ready to spring and 涙／ほころび one 四肢 from 四肢 with their claws! Elephants!" he 結論するd with a shout of 勝利.

"But, Stan; elephants don't have claws," said Agatha.

"They'll wish they had before I'm finished with them," said Stanley ひどく.

"Ah, let him go and 追跡（する） elephants if he wants to—the poor boy," put in Gertrude. "If he's brought home mangled beyond 承認 perhaps he (me) will see what a heartless brute he is!"

Agatha seemed to think this over for a while and then with an 空気／公表する of comparative cheerfulness straightened her dress and 発言／述べるd: "Oh, 井戸／弁護士席; I suppose if he wants to go, he wants to go."

This seemed to me 深遠な, but sound. There was 絶対 no argument against it.

"Elephants!" muttered Stanley, gazing at me and licking his lips.

"Bah!" I exclaimed, turning to him, "what have elephants ever done to you that you should 選ぶ on them like this! Poor little elephants that never said a 厳しい word—who woke you up to this damned elephant rot, anyhow?"

"井戸／弁護士席, Stanley, if you've made up your mind that's all there is about it," 削減（する） in Gertrude.

"Yes. Yes," sobbed Agatha.

I の近くにd my mouth. It only needed me to 反対する to all this rot; to put my foot 負かす／撃墜する 堅固に and forbid it, and the pair of them would have bundled him off to South Africa すぐに. I know women. That is, I know that much about them. Of course this elephant talk was all damned rot. Stanley's idea of amusement at my expense. Any unpleasantness where I was the goat could always 命令（する） Agatha's and Gertrude's hearty support. I 扱う／治療するd the 事柄 as a joke—fool that I was.

Agatha went out of the room, 推定では to 削減（する） a few 挟むs for Stanley to take to South Africa.

Gertrude walked over to Stanley and put her 手渡す on his shoulder, "Stanley," she said, "be very careful in South Africa. Don't go 急ぐing in の中で the elephants and 傷つけるing yourself."

"That's the way. One at a time," I said heartily. "I bet they laugh their trunks off when they 位置／汚点／見つけ出す him."

I got the snake-肌 匂いをかぐ again.

"And always wear your goloshes," she went on, "I'm sure those ジャングルs are not 適切に drained—and flannel next to your 肌, and be careful crossing the roads at 交差点s, and don't speak to any strange men."

"And wash behind your ears and see if you can bring home an ant-eater," I said.

I pronounced it "aunt-eater" and, thinking that was good enough to 出口 on, I 出口d, with the honours of the last word 厚い upon me.

The next few hours I spent roaming about the house waiting for dinner. Stanley had gone out. I strolled into the kitchen two or three times. They were both sitting there; Agatha sobbing loudly behind her handkerchief each time I entered, and Gertrude 注目する，もくろむing me as she would a sick python, and 説, "Poor dear," to Agatha and patting her on the 手渡す. It was impressed upon me that I was as welcome as a leprous gorilla at a wake, but it was some time before it 夜明けd on me that there wasn't going to be any dinner!

This was over the 半端物s! Even if all this tomfoolery was true, and Stanley was going to South Africa; and supposing everybody was all torn to shreds with 悲しみ, and that—a man's dinner is his dinner. A man must eat though the earth 崩壊（する） and the heavens roll together as a scroll. There is a 限界 to everything. It struck me that it would be a pretty good idea to go to South Africa and take Stanley. A man could at least fry a 厚板 of elephant to keep him going between meals. I was beginning to get a bit 汚い tempered, when the 前線 door opened and Stanley （機の）カム in. He looked a bit 負かす／撃墜する in the mouth.

"Look here, Stan," I said, going up to him. "Are there enough of these 爆破d elephants to go 一連の会議、交渉／完成する? Couldn't we 株 them between us? We'd get on all 権利 together, you and I. I could 持つ／拘留する the elephants while you 発射 them."

"Or," I 追加するd, as he didn't seem to be too enthusiastic, "we could take a tusk each and 涙／ほころび them apart. I'm sure we could make a do of it. What about it, Stan?"

"I'm not going, dad," he said mournfully.

"Not going!"

にもかかわらず the fact that I knew he hadn't the faintest hope of going, I was surprised and a little disappointed. I had been thinking the 事柄 over and the more I thought about it the better it looked. The thought of getting away from Agatha and snake-肌 and living in the decent society of wild elephants had taken 持つ／拘留する of me. Then of course, one wouldn't be with the elephants all the time. Most likely they'd have a 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業 in South Africa. Very likely a billiard-（米）棚上げする／（英）提議する too. A rough-hewn, 石／投石する 事件／事情／状勢, but still a billiard-（米）棚上げする／（英）提議する. Perhaps one could even teach the natives poker! And here were all my new risen hopes dashed to the ground and trodden on.

"Is that you, Stanley?" （機の）カム a shrill 発言する／表明する from the kitchen.

"Come upstairs, dad," whispered Stanley.

We cat-footed up to his room.

"Dad," he said, as soon as he had shut the door, "I've just been around to say good-bye to Estelle."

"Who the hell's Estelle?" I asked. The phrase struck me at the time as a good 肩書を与える for a Fox-Buttom or something.

"Estelle? She's that knobby-膝d, enamel-直面するd giggling man-eater we were talking about a while ago."

"Oh!" I said, "the one with the sky-注目する，もくろむs and the bleeding lips?"

"Where is that damned thing!" he snapped savagely.

I 手渡すd him the poem from the dressing-（米）棚上げする／（英）提議する and he tore it about in a way that must have 緊張するd him from the waist up, and threw the pieces up in the 空気／公表する as if he was having a Venetian carnival all to himself. I waited. He burst out at last.

"You know that tripe-直面するd 襲う，襲って強奪する Oscar Winthrop?"

I nodded.

He paused and seemed to gather himself together; his 注目する，もくろむs 狭くするd and he leered at me. Then slowly he hissed, "He's got a モーター-bike and 味方する-car!"

"Good God!" I gasped.

To say that I was stunned by this 公表，暴露 would be to put it feebly: moreover, it would be a 嘘（をつく）.

"Got it day before yesterday," he explained, "and she's been riding out in it ever since. The 襲う，襲って強奪する!"

"Who?"

"Oscar," he said, sitting 負かす／撃墜する on the 辛勝する／優位 of his bed.

"And little Oyster-mouth—what about her?"

"Now that I look 支援する," he growled, "I can see that I was her ice-crearn fetcher, her 的, her door-mat, her picture-show ticket. 襲う，襲って強奪する!"

"Who?"

"Me."

"And elephants are off?" I said 残念に.

He snorted as he wiped the dust off his boots with the quilt.

"Think I'm mad!"

We looked at each other for a while.

"There's no dinner," I said.

"No dinner!" he cried, 星／主役にするing at me.

"Perhaps you could go 負かす／撃墜する to your mother or your aunt and—"

He stood up and put his 手渡す affectionately on my shoulder.

"Don't be silly, dad."

"井戸／弁護士席," I said, "there's a place 負かす／撃墜する in King Street where I usually go when your mother is like this. One can get steak and eggs—"

"Come on," he said, "and we'll go to the fight after."

He looked 支援する as he made for the door.

"Of course, I'm broke, you know."

"That's all 権利," I said, "I've got a 続けざまに猛撃する or two your mother doesn't know about."

While I 小衝突d my hair I thought of Stanley. He's got sense, although it's pretty 井戸／弁護士席 偽装するd. He gets more like me every day. It was just possible that I might get him a 職業 at Flannery's 栄冠を与える and 錨，総合司会者, as a useful. I know Flannery. Stan would be useful all 権利. It would be pretty hard lines if he wasn't useful to his poor old father in a 職業 like that. At least, that was what I thought.

Still thinking, I got my hat and we こそこそ動くd out and 長，率いるd for steak and eggs and freedom. I said steak and eggs, and freedom. Freedom we understand. It means letting one's 耐えるd grow and going without a collar. Freedom is what we wave 旗s for. But steak and eggs!

CHAPTER III

Where in this world will you find anything more 支えるing, more 奮起させるing, more 満足させるing, more invigorating, more 絶対 最高潮に達するing and 実行するing than steak and eggs? Nowhere.

As I said to Stanley at the Greek restaurant, after we had given our order: "Stanley, when the poor sailor returns from foreign lands, from long, lonely 巡航するs, from sleepless nights and toil-filled days; when at last he 始める，決めるs foot in his home port—what does he do?"

"Gets drunk," said Stanley.

The boy was 権利.

"What does he do next?" I asked.

"Father, I'm surprised at you talking about that. You know very 井戸／弁護士席 what—"

"No," I 削減（する） in 堅固に, "I don't mean that; I mean, 井戸／弁護士席, damn it all he orders steak and eggs, doesn't he?"

"Yes, of course."

"井戸／弁護士席, why didn't you say so at first? Trying to 混乱させる your poor old father!"

"What," I continued, "does the explorer do when he returns to civilization after long months in the ジャングル—what does he crave?"

"Steak and eggs."

"権利. When the 餓死するing wanderer, lost in the 砂漠, first starts to lose his 推論する／理由; what does he see?"

"Steak and eggs."

"What does the acquitted co-回答者／被告 急ぐ for as soon as he leaves the 離婚 法廷，裁判所?"

"Steak and eggs."

I was 満足させるd. I leaned 支援する in my 議長，司会を務める and gazed around me. Two young women of the gimme type were gazing with 有望な, lizard 注目する，もくろむs at our （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する.

"Who are those girls over there, Stan?" I asked.

"Steak and eggs," replied Stan in a flat, toneless 発言する／表明する.

I looked at him. He was 星／主役にするing straight in 前線 of him with the rapt look of a 水晶-gazer.

"Thinking of little Oyster-mouth?" I asked gently.

"Blah! Women!" he said in a トン of utter disgust. Almost I 推定する／予想するd to see him spit on the cruet, as I believe they do on the Continent. The steak and eggs arrived and I gazed at my plate. A succulent 厚板 of steak sprawled across it. Two blonde eggs gazed 支援する at me in a warm, friendly, frizzled manner. I forked one.

"I was thinking how much it would cost to buy a motorbike and 味方する-car!" said Stanley, 一打／打撃ing his steak with his knife. "One big enough, that is to say, strong enough, to 粉砕する another モーター-bike and 味方する-car if they happened to bump into one another."

"…に出席する to your fodder," I said 厳しく.

He champed at his steak for a few minutes, then waving the cruet about in 前線 of me to attract my attention he whispered, "Eh, dad! Who are those two girls over there? They keep looking over here."

I raised my 直面する from my plate.

"They, it would seem, are known to their intimates as Steak and Eggs. The one with the red hair I should say is Steak, and the one with the 脚s, is Eggs."

This seemed to puzzle him for a while, but he （機の）カム at me again.

"But who are they, dad?"

"They are Gimmes," I said, "their 指名するs I do not know."

"Gimmes?"

"Gimmes. Yes, Gimmes. Gimme this and gimme that. Human leeches. They'd 抽出する a fur coat from a marble statue of Harry Lauder. Don't smile or we're lost."

It was too late. He had smiled.

"I think I'll go over to that （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, dad," he said. "Would it look funny if I took my steak and eggs with me?"

"Siddown," I growled.

"But, father—"

"Don't call me father. D'you hear? Call me Jack."

"Orright."

I looked across to the other （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する. They smiled.

I わずかに raised one eyebrow, an 業績／成就 of which I have always been proud and which is, I believe, practised a 広大な／多数の／重要な 取引，協定 in 外交の circles. I then looked 支援する at my plate and ate on. I could see that Stanley was 緊張するing at the leash. He looked at me with 有望な 注目する，もくろむs like a water spaniel waiting for his master to throw the stick into the pond. I should not have been at all surprised if he had jumped up on me and barked.

"Go on," he 勧めるd, in a hoarse whisper, "go on, Jack." One thing about Stanley, he's swift on the intake, even if he is a bit premature on the exhaust 一打／打撃. You don't have to tell him anything twice—except when it 伴う／関わるs physical 成果／努力 on his part. I finished my meal, drank a little Worcestershire sauce and called the waiter.

"Mm—mm, mm—m—mm—mm ah mm?" I asked.

He nodded. "Two shillings a cup," he said.

It was after hours.

"We'll be over at the other （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する," I said.

"The ladies also mm—mm?"

I nodded and he shuffled off.

"Come on, Stanley," I said, 押し進めるing my 議長，司会を務める 支援する. "Come with Jacky."

He （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域 me to the other （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する by a 長，率いる.

"港／避難所't I seen you before?" he burbled.

Of course, he is only young.

I 屈服するd わずかに, and with the courtly 空気／公表する for which I am renowned の中で my friends, said, "容赦 our 侵入占拠, but would you ladies care for a snifter?"

"A he-man," said Steak.

"Balm of Gilead!" said Eggs, gulping. "Bring the mat in with you and shut the door."

I 示すd Stanley.

"This is a young friend of 地雷, Stan. My 指名する is Jack."

"Smith?" 問い合わせd Steak.

"Of course. Sit 負かす／撃墜する, Stan."

"I want to sit next to Eggs," said Stan in a whisper that could be heard for leagues.

We 交流d places and 発言／述べるs about the 天候.

"When," asked Steak, "is le garcon coming avec les snifters?"

No one can spring that stuff on me and get off with it.

The waiter rolled up with a trayful.

"Mon homme," I said, turning to him in a confidential manner, "honi soit qui mal y pense?"

"No, sir," he replied, shaking his 長，率いる, "not a 減少（する） of it left in the place."

"Mais done," I said resignedly.

It's a 楽しみ to 会合，会う an intelligent waiter.

Steak was squashed, anyhow, and Stanley regarded me with 付加 尊敬（する）・点.

I dawdled over my cup. At two shillings a time, it 支払う／賃金s to dawdle.

Eggs had got one in below the belt on poor Stanley, by asking him if he had ever been a bull-闘士，戦闘機. He reminded her so much of a bull-闘士，戦闘機 she used to know. Same 猛烈な／残忍な, handsome 直面する, same dark mysterious 注目する，もくろむs. Stanley was roped in and eating out of her 手渡す. I 発言／述べるd that I had done a bit of bulling, myself, at 半端物 times, and she replied that she could やめる believe it. I was rather taken with Steak. She was the sort of woman that grows on you. Her 指名する was Daisy.

She had red hair and blue 注目する，もくろむs, and a wide mouth. Not a hard mouth, but a mouth that knew its way about. Her 人物／姿／数字 was rather good, with the 脚s a little on the thin 味方する. She had a lot of tiny wrinkles 近づく her 注目する，もくろむs. On the whole, pleasing.

Eggs was a beautiful 化学者／薬剤師's blonde. Scientifically made up, low slung in the 団体／死体, with the merest suggestion of an eyebrow on either 味方する of an さもなければ 空いている forehead. Big 注目する，もくろむs she had, and an excellent 脚. Excellent. We got on 井戸／弁護士席, the four of us.

"Jack," said Stanley at last, "I have just asked Maureen to come to the fight." Maureen was Eggs.

Seeing that LE GARCON had by this time recupped the party three times at my expense and I was now twenty-four shillings out, I sat 負かす／撃墜する on the fight suggestion. I explained that I やめる understood that the ladies would not care to be 現在の at the 残虐な buffeting of poor boxers, who perhaps had fathers and 経営者／支配人s and trainers and さまざまな other people to keep out of their meagre 収入s, and had to bash each other and 嘘（をつく） 負かす／撃墜する for ten seconds, to get a living. Steak supported me. She went その上の. She said she would much prefer a theatre, with a 静かな little supper afterwards and perhaps a little car ride out to the beach after that. It was then that I suddenly discovered that I had forgotten to lock the 安全な in my office. I paid the 法案, わびるd, and hurried out, shouting to Stanley that I supposed I would 会合，会う him some other time and to 減少（する） in any time he was passing.

I waited on the corner, two 封鎖するs away, and presently he （機の）カム along, mumbling to himself.

"That was a dirty trick, Jack," he said when he （機の）カム up to me. "Fancy leaving those two poor girls—"

"Never mind about the 'Jack.'" I snapped. "Remember I'm your father."

He was 静かな after that till we got 負かす／撃墜する to the Stadium, half an hour later, and the fight all over. We walked home from there and I lectured him all the way. It was just like playing the bagpipes—sheer waste of time. In the middle of a really 罰金 bit—I was working up to something about the Divinity that 形態／調整s our ends and a bird in the bush 集会 no moss in time—he said: "Father; do you think I look like a bull-闘士，戦闘機?"

It's hard.

Then he 手配中の，お尋ね者 to know how he could become a bullfighter. Whether there were any correspondence colleges that taught bull-fighting. Humouring him, I explained how the bull-闘士，戦闘機s started as calf-chasers and he 開始するd talking about Maureen and I had to explain that I meant the leather-covered ones; and then went その上の and told him how they worked up from calf-chasing to cow-punching, and from cow-punching to bull-fighting; and by that time we were nearly home.

The lights were all out when we got to the house, and I guessed that the wife was in bed, fostering a 頭痛, and Gertrude was at the police-駅／配置する getting out a 令状 for my 逮捕（する） for 誘拐するing and 殺人ing Stanley.

I got the door open beautifully but Stanley, the fool, shut it so that it clicked.

"Who's that?"

It was Argus. Agatha. The wife.

"It's only me and Jack," said the fool Stanley.

I 解除するd him in the 支援する of the neck and tramped over his 団体／死体 into the bedroom. Four or five hours after I got into bed I got used to the drone of Agatha's 発言する／表明する, and fell asleep. It doesn't sound much, just to say, "I fell asleep," but married men will understand.

What a wonderful thing is sleep! Knits up the ravelled sock of care, 回復するs the tissues; the greatest 地位，任命する-jag 選ぶ-me-up ever shaken together. You never feel a dirty taste in your mouth, or a 頭痛, when you're asleep: it's only when you wake up. It is, no 疑問, Nature's greatest gift to man, only, as in most 事例／患者s, Nature hasn't gone far enough. If one could only 落ちる asleep when one liked! To be able, when "Where have you been till this hour of the night?" and "What do you mean by coming home in that 条件?" are 解雇する／砲火／射撃d at you, to 減少（する） off to sleep すぐに!

Ah! priceless boon—withheld.

Still, sleep is a wonderful thing.

As I have 発言／述べるd to my friend 寺: If it were not for sleep, how the hell could we keep awake?

CHAPTER IV

Stanley has made a 完全にする mess of things. Better that I had 後部d a guinea pig. I knew he was like that. I knew it 権利 from the first. When I first saw him, bald, florid and toothless in his nurse's 武器 and heard them mouthing that vile, age-old 名誉き損，中傷, "Isn't he like his father?" I shuddered. When he was はうing about the 床に打ち倒す and I was 落ちるing over him in all directions, I said, "That child is a menace."

Later, when he （機の）カム home from school and said the teacher 茎d him because he deserved it, I 発言／述べるd to his mother, "There's something wrong with that boy. He's unnatural."

I was 権利.

I'll 収容する／認める there have been one or two occasions when my judgment was wrong. One was when 情熱 Plaster won the Carrington 火刑／賭けるs, in 1902, and I had my metaphorical shirt on Onkus, a retired cart-horse that couldn't （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域 a carpet. The other was when I got married. There may have been other slips but these two stick in my mind. Usually I am occasionally invariably infallible.

To get 支援する to Stanley.

He （機の）カム downstairs the morning after our little excursion, looking as if he had put in a 激しい night in the bull-（犯罪の）一味. He was a bit annoyed too. Said he had a stiff neck and that I needn't have tramped on him in the hall.

"Let bygones be bygones," I said, "What is a biff in the neck between father and son? You need a shave."

This last 発言／述べる was a pure brain-wave. Since he was sixteen he has been searching his 直面する for a hair to shave. A few months ago he discovered one, and after gazing at it as though a new 惑星 had swum into his ken, he 投げつけるd himself, shrieking, on my shaving gear. He has been in a more or いっそう少なく continual lather ever since.

"Yes," he said, tenderly rubbing the 負かす／撃墜する on his cheek, "I am a bit bristly. Suppose I'll have to shave every day soon. Pity a man has to shave." He looked unutterably bored at the prospect. "Ah, 井戸／弁護士席. I'll have to grow a moustache, I suppose."

A sudden thought struck him.

"Do bull-闘士，戦闘機s—I say, dad! Do you think Maureen—"

"Shut up, you fool!"

I caught him by the arm. "You were at the fight last night," I said meaningly.

"No, father. I went to the Stadium with you last night."

"True. True. So you did. Keep it at that. No need to tell a 嘘（をつく）."

Agatha appeared at this juncture and the usual breakfast-time 手続き was gone through. She 示すd by an 空気／公表する of 辞職するd 殉教／苦難 that breakfast had been ready for weeks and she would not be able to keep it from going blue-mouldy much longer; so we slowly dragged ourselves to the breakfast-（米）棚上げする／（英）提議する. Stanley fell into his 議長，司会を務める and said he didn't want anything. I just said, "Chops again?" and sighed ひどく. Gertrude butted in, of course.

"You're too 井戸／弁護士席 fed; that's the trouble with some people." ("Some people" is me.) "There's many a poor, 餓死するing ロシアの would be glad of half a chop, even the bone of a chop."

"Agatha," I said, "終わりにする／要約する a few chops for Gertrude to take to Russia."

There was no answer.

I mumbled my way through a plate of porridge, got up, rinsed my mouth out and sat 負かす／撃墜する again. Gertrude brought up a 匂いをかぐ that shook her to the fetlocks.

"Stanley," said Agatha, breaking the 調印（する） of her tomb, "You must eat something. Are you ill? You look very pale."

"I feel just a trifle wonky, as it were, mother. I think it must be the result of going without dinner last night."

I chuckled. First 得点する／非難する／２０ to our 味方する. Agatha の近くにd her lips 堅固に and gave me the sort of look that snakes mesmerize birds with. The chops （機の）カム on.

"What greyhound was done to death to make this butcher's holiday?" I asked, pointing to the chop.

No answer. It was rather disheartening. I had tried my best to make conversation and be friendly, 単に to be answered with looks which, had they been articulate, would have shouted the house 負かす／撃墜する. Is it any wonder marriage is a 失敗?

Echo answers, "No. It damn 井戸／弁護士席 isn't."

Stanley was nibbling at a crust like some ascetic hermit bent on mortifying himself. He was gazing at the saltcellar, in one of his trances. Gertrude patted Agatha and said, "Poor dear," and 追加するd as if 完全に ignorant of my presence, "you have a lot to put up with."

"My 負担 is 激しい," 詠唱するd Agatha in a clerical 発言する／表明する.

Stanley （機の）カム out of his trance.

"Dad," he said, grabbing the only decent chop off my plate and 落ちるing on it like a famished wolf, "What was that one Daisy told us last night about the old man who bought the jazz-garters? Something about elastic—elastic something—"

"Who!" shrieked Gertrude. Agatha had a mouthful of bread, but her ears waggled. I looked at Stanley. Figuratively, he had sunk. Only one despairing 手渡す showed for a moment before he was （海，煙などが）飲み込むd in the enormity of his folly.

Agatha had swallowed her bread.

"Who, may I ask, is—er—Daisy?"

Her 発言する／表明する was a 冷気／寒がらせる breath from the 南極の. The chop bones trembled on my plate like live things and Stanley, the coward, said that he felt sick, tottered from the room, dashed upstairs, and, as he told me later, はうd underneath the bed.

"Daisy?" I said nonchalantly. "Oh, he's a real decent chap. Got a wife and four kiddies. 作品 負かす／撃墜する a 地雷. Stan and I met him at the Stadium last night. His 指名する is Day, really, but all the boys call him 'Daisy.' Funny how a 愛称 sticks to a fellow. I remember when we went to school, we were both in the same class. One day—"

I stopped 突然の. They were both listening like lawyers. "My God, those chops were rotten!" I said. "Surely, with me bringing home money week after week, week after week, never complaining, going about with 穴を開けるs in my socks and my trousers held up with nails, surely it's little enough to 推定する／予想する a meal from you! But, no! It's chops, chops, chops, chops, and nag, nag, nag. Chops, nag, chops, nag—" I was 支援 out the door, keeping time with my feet and had grabbed my hat and escaped before they knew what I was doing. I 急いでd up the street wondering to myself why I hadn't tramped Stanley to death the previous night when I had the 適切な時期. It was a good 逃亡 I thought. They'd have had me if I'd kept on. That's, the trouble with me. When I get started on a 嘘（をつく） I must carry it on. Artistic pride, I suppose. The creative instinct. I keep on 追加するing little adornments here and refinements there until I stand on a motley but magnificent 塚 of pure fiction; from which, nine times out of ten, my wife will 選ぶ the keystone, so to speak, and bring me 急襲するing to earth with a smothered but 否定できない thud. I was thinking how dexterously I had コースを変えるd the conversation and was just wheeling into the 栄冠を与える and 錨，総合司会者, when I remembered that Stanley was at their mercy. They had only to lay a conversational tentacle on Stanley and （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） would ooze from him without him 存在 aware of it. Gertrude, 特に. She could ask you what you thought of the 天候, and gather from your answer your 指名する and 演説（する）／住所, favourite poet, next of 肉親，親類, and form shrewd 疑惑s that you were keeping two homes going. I drifted, stricken, into Flannery's.

"井戸／弁護士席, Mister Gudgeon; how are y' this mornin'?"

"A 二塁打 whisky, Flannery; closely followed by another 二塁打 whisky. No. Give me a 襲う，襲って強奪する of whisky and have one yourself."

"Flyin' bulldogs! Wasser 事柄 with y'?"

I proceeded to tell him, and when I had finished we gazed for the third time on empty 襲う，襲って強奪するs.

"Jack," he said, and the 涙／ほころびs stood in his 注目する，もくろむs, "If so be it you have to 殺人 the three of 'em you can always hide in the cellar of your old pal, 法案 Flannery."

I 圧力（をかける）d his 手渡す. Here was sympathy! Here was fellowship and a friend in time of need.

"法案," I said, "I'm going 支援する to the house. Leave the cellar door ajar." I had another drink and then with a final handclasp, turned away and left him sobbing on the 反対する. I was so 打ち勝つ with emotion, so 法外なd in 悲しみ, that my poor grief-stricken brain could 不十分な 支配（する）／統制する my 脚s, and I wandered from one 味方する of the road to the other, singing mournfully.

It was pitch dark when I woke up lying on my 支援する inside the gate. 打ち勝つ with 悲惨 and mental anguish, I must have 崩壊（する）d at last beneath the 緊張する. Somebody had been kicking my hat about the road and I noticed that the gate hung by only one hinge. I felt tired and sick and worried. I got to my feet and walked wearily toward the door and leaned against it. Stanley opened it and I fell flat on my 直面する in the hallway. He was startled but soon 回復するd his normal nimbleness of mind. Swinging his foot he kicked me deftly in the 支援する of the neck.

"What," he said oracularly, "is a biff in the neck between father and son?"

He then tramped on me, shut the door, tramped on me again and so out to the kitchen. I sat up.

"Stanley," I called.

Silence.

"Stanley, bring me the axe."

No answer.

"Stanley boy, bring father the axe, there's a good boy." I listened in vain.

"Ickle Stanley bing daddy axey-paxey?"

No good. No good at all. Useless to try to 殺人 him without an axe. I took off a boot and composed myself to slumber.

CHAPTER V

It was still dark when I awoke the second time, feeling cramped and 冷淡な, but much better than before. 悲しみ like everything else, passes away and is forgotten, but it's the first time a 広大な／多数の／重要な grief has left me so furry in the mouth. It felt late. As I groped around on the chilly 床に打ち倒す, still only half awake, a distant clock chimed the usual 予選s and then struck two. Almost すぐに a 発言する／表明する 井戸／弁護士席d up from somewhere in the remote 不明瞭. It seemed to come from the wash-house. "It's two o'clock in the mo—o—orning. La da de da de do—" 衝突，墜落!

It was Stanley.

"Stanley," I called.

He was too far away to hear and the 衝突，墜落ing that was going on was terrific.

"Stanley!" I yelled.

Somewhere a door opened and a 発言する／表明する filtered through the 不明瞭. "You can't have the axe. I'm using it."

The door slammed again and the 衝突，墜落ing went on once more. I got up and walked 負かす／撃墜する the hall, feeling my way. Stanley was in the laundry all 権利. I groped my way through the kitchen and out to where a candle flickered. Stanley, with his shirt off, was chopping up the kitchen cupboard. He was just getting in the last swipe as I entered.

"Stanley," I said, sorrowfully waving my 手渡す at the 破片 on the 床に打ち倒す, "What is this?"

He hung his 長，率いる.

"I did it, father, with my little hatchet," he murmured.

"Did you do this with the hope of becoming 大統領，／社長 of America at some 未来 date?" I asked, when I had got a 支配する on myself again. "井戸／弁護士席—no," he said, "I hadn't thought of it. Is there a vacancy? I'd take it on, you know. I might get a モーター-bike and 味方する-car out of it." I lowered myself to the 床に打ち倒す and sat 負かす／撃墜する. "Stanley," I said, "I'm a sick man. 悲しみ and 国内の worries have left their 示す on me. Don't toy with me. Why did you chop the cupboard up?"

"Going to make a cup of tea," he replied, idly chipping a piece out of the wash-tubs.

"What!"

"You see, before they left they turned the gas off at the main, and I blew the main fuse off the switch-board when I put the electric アイロンをかける in the saucepan to boil some water—"

"Before who left?"

"Ma and Aunt Gertrude. I don't know where the gas tap is"

I reached out and took the axe from him. "Listen, Stanley," I said, as he 支援するd away, "explain from the start, speaking slowly and distinctly. What happened?"

He 選ぶd up a piece of the cupboard; a 厚い piece, with a nail in one end, 注目する，もくろむd it thoughtfully, and then leaned 支援する on the wash-tubs.

"After you went out," he said slowly, "they （機の）カム upstairs to me and started 尋問 me."

"And you told them everything, you human cicada!"

"井戸／弁護士席," he replied hotly, "isn't it better to tell everything straight away and get the credit for 存在 honest, than to have it dragged out of you and be regarded as a 襲う，襲って強奪する?"

There are times when I am proud of Stanley.

"Go on," I said, waving the axe.

"井戸／弁護士席, Aunt Gertrude said that it was the last straw. She told Ma that no woman would put up with it. She said you were a selfish, loafing, drunken—"

"Never mind about that."

"But she said you were a dipsomaniac and that when you were drunk you weren't 責任がある your 活動／戦闘s. She said you were not 安全な to live with and—"

"That's enough."

"井戸／弁護士席, anyhow, they packed up and went before lunch. Aunt Gertrude said it would teach you to behave like a human 存在 if Ma left you to look after yourself for a while. I think they've gone to Granny's place at Chatswood."

"When will they be 支援する?" I asked, getting to my feet.

Stanley しっかり掴むd his piece of 支持を得ようと努めるd in both 手渡すs.

"Dunno," he replied gruffly.

The 血 throbbed in my 寺s; a roaring sounded in my ears and I felt as if I would burst. I gazed, axe in 手渡す, at Stanley, till I could 含む／封じ込める myself no longer.

"Horray!" I shouted. "Stanley! Bone of my bone!"

With a 最高の 成果／努力 I controlled myself.

"Bring out your mother's dressing-（米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, we'll need more 支持を得ようと努めるd than this," I said, 除去するing my coat.

"I knew you'd be broken up when I told you," said Stanley, moving off. "元気づける up, dad."

"Bring something to boil the water in," I called after him, "and root around for something to eat."

A thought struck me. "Stanley," I called, as he groped his way through the kitchen. "Why didn't they take you with them?"

"They 手配中の，お尋ね者 to," （機の）カム the answer, "but I said I'd better stay and take care of you, and Aunt Gertrude said it would be a good idea to have someone to keep an 注目する，もくろむ on you, and I was to 令状 定期的に about everything you did."

"I can see you 令状ing far into the night," I replied. "Hurry up with the dressing-（米）棚上げする／（英）提議する."

I heard him 船ing his way to the bedroom, and sat 負かす／撃墜する.

Here was I, a 孤独な man, left to look after the house and Stanley, my wife selfishly gone off to her mother's, leaving me to manage as best I could, with only memories for companionship. 砂漠d. Bereft. Alone...Horray!

I rose as Stanley 支援するd into the laundry dragging the dressingtable.

"Don't chop the mirror," he puffed. "It's seven years' bad luck. Besides, it won't 燃やす."

"I don't see the use of keeping it," I replied, 掴むing the axe. "We have no use for the thing now. I look on a mirror as worse than useless."

"That's how I'd look on it if I were in your place," said Stanley.

I let it pass.

"井戸／弁護士席, if you don't want it 粉砕するd," I said, rolling up my sleeves, "take it away and put it somewhere. Put it in the gas-stove where it will be out of the way. We must keep things tidy. Everything in its place. System, Stanley! That's what a house needs and a woman never has. I'll introduce some system into this place. You won't know it in a week or two."

"No 疑問 about that," he agreed, ducking as I turned the first sod on the dressing-（米）棚上げする／（英）提議する.

When he was younger, Stanley was a Boy Scout. He was so enthusiastic about the training, 特に the "one good 行為 a day" part of it, that the 隣人s got up a 嘆願（書） and he had to 辞職する. Before he left, however, he had 蓄積するd such a 無分別な of badges for path-finding, water-boiling, toast-turning, etc., that his uniform 似ているd an Oriental rug made by an epileptic Arab who I had learnt to Charleston. Accordingly I 許すd him to make the 解雇する／砲火／射撃, boil the water, make the tea and 直す／買収する，八百長をする things up 一般に, while I watched him. We sat 負かす／撃墜する at last, beside the 解雇する／砲火／射撃, with all the windows open to let out the smoke. There, reclining on our 肘s on either 味方する of the 解雇する／砲火／射撃, we drank our tea and ate our burnt bacon and toast like North-west 機動力のある Police. The axe gleamed dully in the glow, and as the candle guttered out, the noise of crickets chirping （機の）カム floating in on the night 空気／公表する. The smoke curled lazily off into the 不明瞭 and a にわか雨 of 誘発するs 発射 up as I threw some 支持を得ようと努めるd on the glowing embers. A long drawn-out wail （機の）カム startlingly from out of the blackness of the night.

"Wolves!" gasped Stanley.

"Cats," I said. "That reminds me. I wonder if your mother and Gertrude really did go to Chatswood?"

"What does it 事柄," yawned Stanley. "I'll go and get a couple of 一面に覆う／毛布s."

Taking a piece of ゆらめくing 支持を得ようと努めるd to light his way, he つまずくd off, and presently was 支援する with the 一面に覆う／毛布s, and as a 譲歩 to civilization, two pillows. I 除去するd my vest, and rolling up in the 一面に覆う／毛布, got out my 麻薬を吸う and filled it. Stanley gazed across the 解雇する／砲火／射撃 at me; wistfully I thought.

"Worried, Stanley?" I asked as I lit up.

"Aw—n—no," he said hesitatingly, "just sort of unsettled."

I lay 支援する on my pillow and puffed contentedly.

"Don't you think 麻薬を吸う smoking is bad for you, dad?" he asked after a while.

"Not a bit of it. You don't want to take any notice of that fool, Gertrude. Smoking is good for me. Those women don't realize that it's better for me to 燃やす 穴を開けるs in the carpet and be contented than to take to knitting and go mad."

"Er, have you got plenty of タバコ?" he asked after a long pause.

I looked up. He was fumbling with a 抱擁する meerschaum, which, 裁判官ing from its blackness, must have come from one of the old Egyptian tombs. He mumbled as I 星／主役にするd at it.

"Your mother and your aunt forbid it," I said 厳しく.

He mumbled again. I threw my pouch across to him: he made a queer, glugging noise in his throat, and fell on it. Dense clouds of smoke fouled the 空気／公表する before he spoke again.

"You're all 権利, Jack," he said, and spat into the 解雇する／砲火／射撃.

I settled my pillow and fell to musing.

How on earth is it that women, cannot make us men comfortable? Take Agatha for instance For years I had been complaining about her cooking. Not that she couldn't cook, but she didn't seem to know what to cook. I'll 収容する／認める she tried, after a fashion, but it is impossible to please a man once he gets particular about his meals. Why the devil hadn't she thought of lighting a 解雇する／砲火／射撃 in the laundry and giving me burnt bacon and toast? No imagination. Women are slaves to 国内の 決まりきった仕事 and precedent. They are all alike, so far as I can see. Complaining when a man comes home a bit merry: like the time, for instance, when I pulled the 前線 盗品故買者 負かす／撃墜する and 後部d it against the 塀で囲む so that I could get on to the balcony. What else was there to do? I couldn't find the keyhole. Then there is the perpetual asking for money, and worrying about the rent. Doesn't 事柄 if a man goes short! Oh, no! I knocked my 麻薬を吸う out on the 床に打ち倒す and absent-mindedly reached for the switch to turn the 解雇する／砲火／射撃 out before I went to sleep. I was beginning to doze, when a belated thought tiptoed into my mind.

"Stanley," I said softly.

"Yairz."

"We might see Steak and Eggs again, and in that 事例／患者—"

"Azzal 権利," he replied sleepily. "I had Eggs's telephone number so I rang her up this afternoon and they'll be here t'morrow night. Goo' night."

"Elephant's fins!" I gasped.

"Elefunz," mumbled Stanley dreamily.

He was asleep. The 床に打ち倒す was 固める／コンクリート; not the best of beds; but the fact that I slept as soundly as a liftdriver speaks 井戸／弁護士席 for the clarity of my 良心 and the adaptability of my hip-bones.

CHAPTER VI

It was somewhere about midday when I awoke, creaking in every 共同の. The sunlight streamed through the laundry window and a cat that had been 注目する，もくろむing me speculatively from the sill, leapt out of sight as I sat up. Outside in the street a 売買業者 pleaded plaintively for empty 瓶／封じ込めるs, rags, 捕らえる、獲得するs and old アイロンをかける. Stanley was audibly asleep. I 投げ上げる／ボディチェックするd a billet of 支持を得ようと努めるd gently on to his 直面する, and he sat up clawing the 空気／公表する and gazing around wildly.

"Go and get my bath ready," I ordered.

"Go and get it yourself," he replied sulkily and fell 支援する into his 一面に覆う／毛布.

"Stanley," I said, "is this obedience? Is this friendly co-操作／手術? Is this looking after me? Did they teach you nothing when you were a Boy Scout?"

"Didn't have anything about baths in the Scouts," he mumbled.

I reached for another 厚板 of 支持を得ようと努めるd.

"Aw, don't be silly, dad," he 抗議するd, raising his 長，率いる from the pillow. "You're all 権利. You don't want a bath—you're clean."

"Stanley," I said, 推論する／理由ing with him, "wouldn't it be easier and nicer for you to get my bath ready than to have to explain to Eggs how you got your 直面する 破産した／（警察が）手入れするd open through a piece of 支持を得ようと努めるd accidentally 落ちるing on it?"

He sat up, making savage, noiseless 動議s with his mouth.

"That's a good boy," I murmured, lying 支援する on the 床に打ち倒す, "and when you've done that, get the breakfast ready—and if what you are 説 is what I think you're 説—don't say it."

He staggered to his feet and lurched out the door. In some 尊敬（する）・点s Stanley is like his mother, bad tempered when getting up or when asked to do any little thing. I had not dozed off 正確に／まさに, but was in that blissful 明言する／公表する when one is neither awake nor asleep, when I heard a bumping noise coming from upstairs in the 周辺 of the bathroom and a wild, panicky yell from Stanley.

"Father! Father!"

I leapt to my feet, trod on an 上昇傾向d nail that protruded from a fragment of the dressing-（米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, and 急ぐd for the stairs.

"Father! Father!" （機の）カム a despairing wail.

"Coming, boy!"

Taking too many steps at a time, I fell, 衝突，墜落d against the banister and 回復するd on to my 向こうずね on the stairs. Clenching my teeth, I limped 速く to the 上陸.

"Father!—Oh, there you are."

"Quick, boy! What is it?"

He 調査するd me curiously as I stood panting on one 脚, 持つ／拘留するing my 向こうずね.

"Your bath is now ready," he said coldly.

Mouth open I 星／主役にするd at him as he 小衝突d past me and calmly descended the stairs. As though stunned, I watched him till the 最高の，を越す of his 長，率いる disappeared from 見解（をとる） and then hobbled dazedly into the bath-room and sat on the 辛勝する／優位 of the bath. There are occasions when the English language, noble though it is, is 不十分な to 表明する one's feelings. Often I have yearned for the ability to speak Sanskrit, but strange though it may seem, I have never since uttered a word to Stanley about this いわゆる joke of his. It was beyond even physical 表現, and I remained for months with this inhibition gnawing at my bosom until I saw a 見本／標本 of 地位，任命する-impressionist art する権利を与えるd, "Picture of Workman 落ちるing off Scaffolding." Gazing at it, I felt a 負担 減少（する） off my mind. I had been 表明するd.

Perhaps a psychologist could have relieved me at the time. I believe that once they get you hypnotized they relieve you of everything you've got, but as it was, even the warm bath failed to soothe my stricken faculties and, having bathed, I doddered downstairs like an old man. And yet fools who never had a son burble of the blessings of fatherhood!

Stanley was blithely humming the collection of sounds usually associated with the fox-trotting 一区切り／（ボクシングなどの）試合s. He stopped as I （機の）カム in.

"What's for breakfast?" I asked dully.

安心させるd, he made a more or いっそう少なく tuneful 主張 that he 手配中の，お尋ね者 to go 支援する to Dixie to see his mammie in the cotton-fields and then 追加するd that we had burnt bacon and toast to look 今後 to.

"Am I then 非難するd to finish my allotted （期間が）わたる on a diet of burnt bacon and toast? Isn't there any other damn thing beside that?" I 問い合わせd.

"The trouble with some people," said Stanley, stamping on a piece of 炎ing charcoal that had once been bread, "is that they're too 井戸／弁護士席 fed. There's an onion behind the gas-stove if you're feeling fastidious."

I turned wearily to the wash-tubs where I had left my coat and hat the previous night. They were gone. I turned and raised my eyebrow at Stanley: "My coat and hat?"

"Oh, yes. They got burnt last night," he explained, "the 解雇する／砲火／射撃 was going out and I couldn't reach the 支持を得ようと努めるd, without getting up, and I just accidentally knocked your coat 負かす／撃墜する—and it sort of fell on the 解雇する／砲火／射撃 and—er—caught alight."

"And the hat?"

"井戸／弁護士席, a hat is not much good without a coat, is it?"

Supporting myself with one 手渡す on the 塀で囲む, I made my way out of the room in silence. Even if I'd had a gun I could not have 発射 him. Hard to understand, I know; but living with Stanley has made me like that. When he strikes, he strikes me 権力のない.

"Where are you going?" he called out.

"To Flannery's," I gulped in a choked sort of 発言する／表明する, and の近くにd the door behind me. Beer is a food 同様に as a drink, so I went to Flannery's for breakfast. The girl, Sadie, was behind the 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業.

"Morning, Mr Gudgeon, beautiful morning this morning, nearly lunch-time too and I'm getting hungry. Hear you've been having some trouble, what is it whisky?"

I nodded weakly. Sadie is a nice girl, but there are occasions when a man's sick, when a little silent sympathy, a little loving 親切, a little understanding pat on the cheek, goes さらに先に than mere cheerfulness. I gulped my drink and drew a 深い breath. Spirit called to spirit.

"Sadie;" I said. "Flex the fingers, massage the little biceps and stand by the beer pump. If that bracelet is going to get in the way, take it off. I want 活動／戦闘."

A 泡，激怒することing pint-マリファナ 強くたたくd wetly on the 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業 as I spoke and I clasped it by its big friendly 扱う, raised it, and the stuff 急襲するd 負かす／撃墜する my throat 耐えるing a message of hope to my dejected 内部のs. I 取って代わるd the マリファナ, empty, on the 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業 and sighed one of those 深い, 満足な sighs that seem to start from one's boots, gather all the little cares and troubles on the way, and from the mouth dissipate them in the 空気／公表する.

支援する （機の）カム my 補充するd マリファナ.

"You look worried, Mr Gudgeon," said Sadie kindly. "You're so pale."

"If paleness is a 調印する of worry, Sadie, I せねばならない be transparent. I'm sick."

She clucked sympathetically.

"Poor boy. Why doesn't your wife look after you? S'shame!"

I put my empty マリファナ 負かす／撃墜する.

"Mr Flannery is sick, too," she said, 素早い行動ing it away.

"Worry?" I said.

"No. Whisky," she replied, slapping her 申し込む／申し出ing 負かす／撃墜する before me. "襲う，襲って強奪するs of it! Drinking with some old fool as silly as himself."

I shook my 長，率いる in a manner which I hope 伝えるd disgust.

"Madness," I said.

"You 述べるd it. Another? I'll have to be off to lunch presently but I'll 行方不明になる your company," she said, 追跡するing off softly.

I am not dense.

"I'd like to be able to take you somewhere for lunch," I said in a トン of yearning, "but I'm not dressed for it and by the time I got home and changed, your lunch hour would be nearly over."

"What a pity," she sighed, straightening her shingle.

Strange, the 誘惑する I have for women. Sex 控訴，上告, I suppose.

"Oh, by the way!" I cried. "I'd almost forgotten it. We're 推定する／予想するing company to-night. Want some アルコール飲料. Say, four of lager, one small gin"

"Is this in 新規加入 to Stanley's order?" she 削減（する） in.

"Stanley's order?"

"M'm. He was up here late yesterday afternoon." She was turning the pages of a 調書をとる／予約する as she spoke.

"Here it is. Two dozen lager, six best gin—large, two claret, two sherry, two—"

"That'll do!" I cried, clutching at the 反対する. "I don't want to hear any more."

"It's going to be some party," she said, の近くにing the 調書をとる／予約する and gazing brightly at me. "Only a few people too. Just nice."

"Would you like to come?" I asked, mastering my emotions.

"Too 権利 I'm coming!" she 答える／応じるd with a happy gurgle. "Stanley said he'd be real disappointed if I didn't come and bring a few friends." She leaned over the 反対する and tapped me caressingly on the nose with one finger. "P'非難するs I'll get better 熟知させるd with my little fat （イスラム圏での）首長," she whispered. She 素早い行動d away, pausing at the cash 登録（する）, and turning, waved one lily-white 手渡す. "Toodle-oodle!" she cried, and was gone. I の近くにd my 注目する，もくろむs and groaned. How much—Oh, how much was two dozen lager, six best gin large, and two of everything else, like Noah's ark! I clutched my hat and, turned toward the door. "Goin', Mr Gudgeon?" called the barman. "Yes," I muttered. "Going—going."

"Ar, 井戸／弁護士席. See y' t'night at the party," he yelled, as I hobbled out on to the pavement.

Like a weeping mother going to the 電気椅子, I 始める，決める my 直面する toward home and Stanley.

Stanley...If I'd known what that party was going to start I'd have gone the other way.

CHAPTER VII

I had a meal; a meal which Stanley 述べるd as an artist's breakfast, 存在 a combination of breakfast, lunch and afternoon tea. It 欠如（する）d nothing in 量, but it left me with the impression that if the tinopener ever got mislaid while Stanley 支配するd the kitchen, we would 餓死する to death. It seemed a long time since I'd had chops.

I wandered listlessly about the house while Stanley （疑いを）晴らすd the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する and carried the crockery up to the bath and turned the にわか雨 on it. I really should have been at work, but what with one thing and another, I couldn't 直面する the idea of going 支援する to the office. The Gudgeons are temperamental, and I, perhaps the most temperamental of them all, coming as I do from a long line of Gudgeons—the end of the line so to speak, am over-civilized. When I say that I am the end of the line, I do not 無視（する） Stanley. Stanley, so far as the family is 関心d, is a blank とじ込み／提出する.

存在 over-civilized and 高度に strung, there are times when the mere thought of work turns me sick. Had I not met Agatha I might still be making a comfortable and 平易な living at the billiard-room. But the propagation of the 種類 is the 単独の 目的（とする） of Nature and I was torn from the pool-（米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, and my cue was put 支援する in the rack by the inexorable 手渡す of 運命／宿命 that Stanley might infest the world. Truly, there are some things that are beyond the understanding of mortal man. Things of which it is no earthly use to think. Still, there are times when thought, long held 支援する by the physical activities of our daily lives, bursts all 抑制 and floods our minds like the 制限するd water bursting through a 割れ目 in a clogged 下水管-麻薬を吸う. I wandered aimlessly as a telegraph messenger from room to room and finally flung myself on the bed and 降伏するd myself to meditation and indigestion.

Lying there I seemed to see the difficulties of life line up, number off, and form fours. I have read in 調書をとる／予約するs that the events of a 溺死するing man's whole life flash through his mind before he finally utters the word "Mother" and 沈むs.

I have not 株d with the authors of these 調書をとる／予約するs the 楽しみ of 存在 溺死するd, and so can 申し込む／申し出 no corroborative 証拠, but I underwent a dreadful enough experience on the bed. 疑問 descended on me and the 信用／信任 I have always felt in my ability to carry on the 事件／事情／状勢s of daily life, drained from me. There were so many things to prey upon my mind. Agatha was gone. Gertrude was gone. My home was broken up. My bootlace was broken and I had not a clean collar to call my own. The tradesmen had to be paid, and the landlord and Flannery.

Where was the money to come from? Agatha, with that careless 無視（する） of 責任／義務 ありふれた to all women, had calmly left me without making any 準備／条項 whatever for my 未来. It would never occur to her that I needed money. That she would think gratefully of the 続けざまに猛撃するs and 続けざまに猛撃するs I had given her to fritter away on groceries; and that she would endeavour to 返す me was a thought to be 解任するd with a bitter laugh.

Apart from these problems of 国内の economy, there was Stanley. That he was still out of 刑務所，拘置所 was 予定 単独で to my unremitting 成果／努力s to keep him on the straight and 狭くする path, and in this endeavour I was unassisted and even …に反対するd by Agatha and Gertrude. It was left to me to orient his moral compass and 乗る，着手する him on an 占領／職業 that would carry him 安全に through the 嵐の seas of life, with myself as 助言者 and supercargo. His 単独の ambition seemed to be to own a モーター-cycle and sidecar, his wavering inclinations were at 現在の in the direction of bull-fighting, his only 熟考する／考慮する was racing-form, his 長，指導者 占領／職業 seemed to consist in 落ちるing in and out of love with cat-like frequency. He had a 肯定的な flair for getting into trouble and everything he touched was automatically 難破させるd.

Could I have made him an alderman of the City 会議 he might have had some 範囲 for the 演習 of his peculiar genius. Given work where he would be in the position to 補助装置 in the 再開 and demolition of whole 封鎖するs of buildings, in the 涙／ほころびing up of roads and putting them 支援する, in the reviling of his 同僚s, and the playing of practical jokes on the 率-payers—then he might have been happy. 請負業者s would have にわか雨d wealth on him from 動機s 純粋に tender and his 指名する would have appeared in the papers in company with society leaders, wife-beaters, 大司教s, 著名な 殺害者s, modest hospital-cot endowers, and racehorse owners. But it was not to be, and failing the aldermanic life, I could only hope for the next best thing and make him a useful at Flannery's.

My melancholy train of thought was shunted into a 味方する-駅／配置する as Stanley burst into the room and 開始するd to roll up the rugs on the 床に打ち倒す. The sight of him annoyed me.

"Stanley!" I snapped. "How often have I told you to knock before entering a room? The 私立探偵 manner does not become you. Next time you omit the necessary 儀式 I'll 解除する you such a swipe in the teeth that your unborn grandchildren will stagger with the shock. Remember—knock or be knocked. Get out! Come here! What are you doing with those mats?"

He paused in the doorway and stood with his 注目する，もくろむs cast 負かす／撃墜する like a cab-horse in the rain.

"井戸／弁護士席! Speak up! What are you standing there like a damn fool for?"

"I am abashed and 混乱させるd, father!" he said softy.

"Bashed and contused!" I shouted wildly, rolling off the bed. He leapt outside the door and, の近くにing it, bellowed through the keyhole.

"I want the mats because I'm getting the place ready for the party." The 重要な clicked in the lock as I reached the door. "You don't mind me locking you in?" he cried pleadingly.

Locked me in! His father! I looked around wildly for a moment, then wrenching the end off the bed, 乱打するd the door 負かす／撃墜する. I do not wish to give the impression that I had lost my temper. Far from it. It was with the 最大の calmness that I walked over the 後援d door, carelessly swinging the end of the bed in both 手渡すs. My bedroom is on the ground 床に打ち倒す. I proceeded 速く along the hallway and tripped over a mat that Stanley had dropped. Smiling, I rose to my feet and called affectionately to Stanley. He did not answer, but I could hear him scurrying about, upstairs. The boy seemed to be 避けるing me. I hurried up the stairs, and arriving breathless at the 最高の，を越す searched each room. Stanley was nowhere to be seen. There was only one place. The roof.

Throwing 負かす／撃墜する the bed-end I hurried downstairs and 安全な・保証するd the meat chopper and then returned to the upper 床に打ち倒す. By standing on the outer window-ledge of Stanley's room it was 平易な to reach the guttering of the roof and so 運ぶ／漁獲高 myself up with the chopper gripped in my teeth. ひさまづくing on the sloping roof, I 遠くに見つけるd Stanley 粘着するing to the chimney and 星／主役にするing at me in a most unfriendly manner with his mouth wide open.

"Vanvly," I called, "vor varver wavs you."

The chopper made it difficult for me to speak, but I kept it in my mouth and started the ascent of the roof. Stanley, after a savage 試みる／企てる to 涙／ほころび a brick loose from the chimney, slid 負かす／撃墜する the さらに先に 味方する. Reaching the 山の尾根, I slid 負かす／撃墜する after him. He was balancing on the balcony roof gazing 猛烈に about him. Our house is separated from the next in the terrace by a 狭くする passage-way, four feet wide, and the roofs of both balconies are just that distance apart. I 心配するd Stanley's 意向 and was almost on him with the chopper when he leapt. In his haste, he 行方不明になるd his 地盤, caught the guttering of the next-door roof, yelped as the guttering （機の）カム away, and gasped 静かに as the end of it held and he remained 一時停止するd in the 空気／公表する, swinging gently from about eight feet of galvanized アイロンをかける. I had him. I had only to step across the 介入するing four feet and chop him loose to spend the 残りの人，物 of my life in peace and quietude. Taking the chopper in my 権利 手渡す, I placed one foot in our balcony gutter and stepped easily across. It was then that my 後部 foot became stuck. またがるd between the two houses, I vainly strove to dislodge it. Struggling my other foot became wedged in the guttering opposite, and I was done.

Had I been younger I might have extricated myself 公正に／かなり easily. Not that I 欠如（する） either strength or ability; young flapnoodles can show me no points when it comes to strength and vigour, but a man of fortyeight 蓄積するs a 確かな 量 of dignity which 産む／飼育するs a distaste for violent physical 成果／努力. A 速く 増加するing and very 利益／興味d （人が）群がる was 集会 in the street while my fiend son hung limply in the 空気／公表する and laughed himself 黒人／ボイコット in the 直面する. I 行方不明になるd him with the chopper, and it whirled past him and clattered into the passage-way below. Nice position for a grown man of forty-eight to be in! Had it not been for Stanley's ridiculous 願望（する） to 避ける me I should never have been exposed on the roof-最高の，を越すs as an 反対する of ridicule. It was always Stanley. Who, but Stanley, would have thought of cooking meals in the laundry at two o'clock in the morning?

My position was intolerable. I waved my 武器 to the 暴徒 in the street.

"Send for the 解雇する／砲火／射撃 旅団!" I shouted.

They 元気づけるd.

"Send for the —— 解雇する／砲火／射撃 旅団!"

They 元気づけるd again.

I gazed sadly at Stanley. He was 粘着するing with one 手渡す and pointing excitedly at the （人が）群がる with the other.

I turned and gazed 負かす／撃墜する at that sea of chattering nincompoops as a 発言する／表明する floated up to me. "Ooo—hoo! Ja—ack!"

Two white handkerchiefs ぱたぱたするd below.

"Cooee!" 叫び声をあげるd Stanley. "It's Eggs! And Steak! Cooee!"

"Send—for—the—解雇する／砲火／射撃—旅団!" I bellowed. "You must be pretty friendly with the 解雇する／砲火／射撃 旅団, dad," said Stanley, 転換ing his 支配する.

"Oo—hoo! Ja—ack! Has the party started?"

"Send for—"

"For the love of マイク, father! We 港／避難所't enough lager for the 解雇する／砲火／射撃 旅団. I've 招待するd all the people we want."

As the last word left his mouth the guttering gave a rasping screech and ripped away another eight feet, leaving him with an 平易な 減少（する） to the ground. Whether it was the sudden shock or the 手渡す of 運命／宿命 that threw me 支援する at the same time on to my own roof, I do not know, but as I lay 支援する, perspiring, against the slope, a hoarse murmur of 怒り／怒る went up from the （人が）群がる and I looked to see numbers of them walking away with the 態度 of people who 手配中の，お尋ね者 their money 支援する. I had disappointed them. It was （疑いを）晴らす to me that they regarded me as a 詐欺; a person who gathered a good （人が）群がる and then didn't 落ちる 負かす／撃墜する and break his neck. They were 分散させるing sullenly, mumbling to one another, and at last all were gone except a few 楽天主義者s and 地元の 居住（者）s who watched me, hoping against hope, until I disappeared from 見解（をとる）. Climbing through the window into Stanley's room I surprised him furiously 小衝突ing his hair.

"Why don't you knock?" he 需要・要求するd slowly?

"Sorry, son, I didn't think you'd be here."

"Thasall 権利, dad," he said, laying 負かす／撃墜する the 小衝突 and turning to me. "Come and help me welcome the guests."

Stanley is given to sudden fiendish fits of bad temper, a deplorable trait which he 相続するs from his mother, but relenting Providence has made him somewhat like me, in that he 耐えるs no malice after his fit has passed off. That is to say, not much. We descended the stairs together and 訴訟／進行 arm in arm along the hall, opened the door and 認める Steak and Eggs.

"Come in, my dee—ars," crooned Stanley.

"You men are the 限界!" said Eggs, wagging a roguish finger at Stanley.

"You silly boy!" exclaimed Steak, patting me on the cheek. "You might have been killed! Whatever were you doing up there?"

"Stanley got into difficulties and I went to his 救助（する）," I explained with simple modesty.

"Oh, you big, 勇敢に立ち向かう man!" gurgled Eggs. "But what was my toreador doing up there?" she asked, snuggling her 手渡す into Stanley's and looking up into his 注目する，もくろむs.

Stanley paused and then spoke in a low 発言する／表明する.

"A poor little motherless kitten, blind and homeless, had 崩壊（する）d on the roof and was mewing so plaintively that it wrenched my heart. I listened until I could 耐える it no longer. Then I 投げつけるd myself, careless of consequences, on to the roof."

"I'll say that was something like a hurl," said Steak admiringly.

"Later, the guttering gave way as you saw—"

I interrupted, thinking Stanley had been in long enough.

"I 急ぐd to his 援助—"

"But what about the poor little blind kitten?" 噴出するd Eggs.

"I—I gave it a drink of water," said Stanley, "which seemed to 生き返らせる it, and it gazed gratefully at me for a moment and then spread its little wings and flew away."

"The kitten!"

"Ah, yes. I was thinking of the canary I 救助（する）d yesterday. It just licked my 手渡す and toddled off."

"You dear thing!" cooed Eggs, squeezing his 手渡す.

I thought Stanley had gone far enough.

"井戸／弁護士席, come on, girls," I exclaimed jovially. "Make yourself at home. Take your hats off, or your coats, or whatever it is you want to take off. Don't mind us; we're all friends together."

I herded them into the 製図／抽選-room.

"Stanley's been getting things ready. I suppose everything's 直す／買収する，八百長をするd, Stan?"

"井戸／弁護士席—no. Not やめる," he replied. "I didn't 推定する／予想する anyone yet. You girls are a bit 早期に," he 追加するd, smiling at them.

"We've been to enough parties," said Steak, "to know that the firstcomers know where the beer's hidden."

"Where is it?" asked Eggs.

"It's in the stove, most of it, Maureen," 自白するd Stanley. "Care for a gargle."

"We wouldn't take much 持つ／拘留するing 負かす／撃墜する if you 手配中の，お尋ね者 to 軍隊 it on us," drawled Steak. "Trot it out."

I had seated myself and was admiring the 形態／調整 of Daisy's ear, when what seemed like a herd of buffaloes struck the 前線 door and a raucous howl （機の）カム from the 前線 of the house. For a moment I thought it might be the 解雇する／砲火／射撃 旅団. Stanley 急ぐd into the room with a 瓶／封じ込める in each 手渡す and a delighted smile on his 直面する.

"What's that?" I gasped.

"It's the Boys!" cried Stanley, and 急ぐd to let them in.

CHAPTER VIII

By eight o'clock, our 静かな little party had, thanks to my son's 成果／努力s, swelled to the 割合s of the （人が）群がる that gathers around the 位置／汚点／見つけ出す where the 団体／死体 was 設立する.

There were the Boys: a （人が）群がる of immature dance-hall 凶漢s who ran おもに to 脚s and reactionary 控訴s. There, was Sadie and a boy friend, and a girl friend and her boy friend, and the barman and the 長，指導者 chucker-out at Flannery's. The milkman was there with an 申し立てられた／疑わしい 女性（の） of the ultra-modern type, who could not be definitely placed as a boy or a girl and was best 分類するd as a Boil. People I did not know kept coming in, in bunches. I tried to count them but they moved about too much. I don't suppose there were more people on the MAYFLOWER.

Everyone, it seemed, had brought their music-調書をとる／予約するs for what 推論する／理由 I do not know, seeing that they had only ukeleles to play. The giggling and guffawing made the house sound like a large aviary 存在 荒廃させるd by bloodhounds. And the singing!

There was one girl who had been （刑事）被告 of 存在 able, to sing in the 早期に 行う／開催する／段階s of the orgy. Arraigned before a 陪審／陪審員団 of panting ukelele players, she blushingly 認める that some people said she had a good 発言する／表明する but she was not so wonderful, really. After the usual 仮定／引き受けること of bashfulness, and the 正統派の 声明s as to not having brought her music, and having a bad 冷淡な she 同意d to sing. The Boys, who had 勧めるd her to sing, then left in a 団体／死体 長，率いるd for Flannery's 味方する door, with three 控訴-事例／患者s.

The girl sang "The Last Rose of Summer."

By some 驚くべき／特命の／臨時の fluke of an 乱暴／暴力を加えるd glottis, she caught a high 公式文書，認める on a neap tide, and held it. Like a draught-horse 立ち往生させるd with a 激しい 負担 on a hill, she held it. I shut my 注目する，もくろむs and thought of knocking-off time at the steel-作品 and 霧がかかった nights on the harbour. Growing mottled in the 直面する as Nature 主張するd herself, she was at last compelled to 放棄する the 公式文書，認める with a gasp and, まっただ中に a 嵐／襲撃する of 賞賛, she finished off in a hoarse baritone.

"By cripes!" cried the milkman, slapping me on the 支援する, "you wouldn't hear better than that at the Gaiety!"

Which was やめる true. I've been to the Gaiety.

That priceless boon, "the life of the party," was a 特に virulent 見本／標本. The Boil told me in a confidential whisper that he was such a character. The things he said! And the too-perfectly-funny-for-words things he did!

"Gee! I remember once," she said, ashing her cigarette on my coat-sleeve, "he blew up a balloon and sat on it. You should have seen the look on his 直面する. Laugh! I thought I'd die!"

For once, I felt old.

I looked around for Stanley and failed to find him; neither could I see Maureen. I rose to my feet as the noble 緊張するs of "麻薬を吸う Ma Baby's Goo-goos" rose in the quivering 空気／公表する, and after a search 安全な・保証するd a 瓶／封じ込める of gin, two glasses and some ginger-beer, and 解除するing the eyebrow to Steak, 長，率いるd for the 前線 door.

"My gawd!" she said, に引き続いて me out and seating herself on the gas-box beside me. "Does this happen every night?"

"Don't talk to me, Daisy, not for a while, anyhow."

"I understand, honey," she said.

"Take ginger-beer with it?" I asked.

"I hate ginger-beer."

I threw the ginger-beer away.

"I regard gin 純粋に as a 薬／医学," I said, filling the glasses.

"絶対," she replied, tersely.

We sipped 静かに.

"You know—I like you, Jack. You're restful," she sighed, and leaned her 長，率いる against my shoulder.

I felt 残り／休憩（する）d, too. Some women 影響する／感情 men like that. They have the mother instinct without 存在 mawkish; I felt that if I had laid my troubled 長，率いる on Daisy's （競技場の）トラック一周 and said, "What a —— of a world this is," Daisy would have said, "絶対."

Once a man reaches the forties he needs feminine company. Some men, indeed most men, like something young and fluffy, but I am not like that. I like a sensible woman. Not one of these hard, practical women, but a woman who, doesn't giggle. A woman of the world who has had a couple of 黒人／ボイコット 注目する，もくろむs in her time is the best company for a man in his forties.

I liked Steak.

I filled the glasses and put them 負かす／撃墜する on the 床に打ち倒す.

"Daisy," I said, "I'm a married man. My wife has left me; Stanley is my son and I'm going on for forty."

I had made a clean breast of things—事実上.

She patted my 手渡す. "I guessed most of that but thought you were a widower. 離婚d, are you, Jack?"

I nodded glumly.

"Don't worry over things that happened long ago, honey," she said, smoothing my hair. "Did you like her very much?"

"I always 尊敬（する）・点d her," I answered gently, "until—"

"Don't tell me if it 傷つけるs you, Jack?"

"She ran away with a 商業の traveller. Lord knows where they went to. I tried to find her. I heard that he ill-扱う／治療するd her—Ah, 井戸／弁護士席!" I 選ぶd up our glasses.

"Some women don't know when they're 井戸／弁護士席 off," she exclaimed. "A 罰金 man like you—! Thanks, Jack. Here's luck. Don't forget that there are more fish in the sea and やめる a few pebbles left on the beach."

We quaffed.

"My word!" said Steak, after a pause, "what a 列／漕ぐ／騒動 those galoots are making inside!"

"Bedlam!" I exclaimed.

"絶対."

I put my arm around her and we snuggled up. There was nothing wrong in it. Everything was all 権利. My wife had left me. Certainly, she had given me the impression that she would be 支援する すぐに, but the fact remained that she wasn't with me. And here was a woman, a friend, who understood me. Was I to 侮辱 her by 拒絶するing her affection? I think I am too much of a gentleman for that.

The noise of the party was 増加するing, a thing that I had not considered possible. They were stamping their feet, and singing, "We're here because we're here because we're here because we're here." A very 古代の and easily remembered song of some fifty-three 詩（を作る）s, if I remember rightly. 極端に popular at smoke concerts and 宿泊する 会合s. I had got used to the monotony of the bellowing, much the same, I suppose as factory 労働者s get used to the noise of the 機械／機構, and was feeling comfortable and almost drowsy when 寺, who lives next door, （機の）カム to the gate.

"Gudgeon!" he barked, "what's all this damned uproar! Do you know it's nearly midnight?"

"It's Stanley's party," I answered in the soft 発言する／表明する that turneth away wrath. "It's his coming-out party."

"Coming out! 井戸／弁護士席, the sooner he 現れるs the better. It's a damn 暴動! Is he coming out in a 戦車／タンク?"

"Be nice, 寺. Be nice. You were a boy yourself once."

"I'll 収容する／認める it," he shouted. "But there was no insanity in my family. I hope," he 追加するd, glaring at the doorway, "that when he comes out, he comes out on his ear!"

"哀れな old cow!" said Steak, as he bounced off.

"You can't take any notice of a man like that," I explained. "He's a fool. He said I looked old."

"Rot!" she exclaimed contemptuously. "He's mad."

That was a 同情的な, yet sensible 観察.

I could see that Daisy was a smart, sensible woman. When I had told Agatha about 寺's ridiculous 発言／述べる, instead of laughing heartily, she had said, "やめる 権利, too. Of course, you're getting old. You can't stay young for ever. You, with your hair parted in the middle and your tight-waisted coats and dynamite 関係!"

It 始める，決める me thinking.

It just shows the difference in women.

But then, every woman is different from every other woman; like finger-prints; and just as the dissimilarity in finger-prints leads to many a man's downfall, so with women. Some men think that because they have produced 確かな 影響s with some women by some particular method, they can do it at any time with any other woman, like the 使用／適用 of mathematical and 化学製品 決まり文句／製法. It is not so. It is decidedly not so. You may live comfortably with Jekyll for a long time, but sooner or later you are 直面するd with Hyde. No man can understand women for the やめる ordinary 推論する／理由 that they don't understand themselves. In this they are 類似の to a lot of other animals. There is no mystery and no secret. If there had been, it would have been blabbed long ago. Solomon had more than his 株 of wives but he had to give it up at last and 収容する／認める that a good woman was above rubies. And I think I have biblical 支援 when I say that Solomon knew his way about. It is not my wish to be considered a cynic. I like women. But the man who runs the circular saw cannot be called a cynic just because he realizes that it is a saw. 類似して, the man who puts a guard-rail around his 機械／機構 does not 不信 the 機械／機構, he only realizes his own fallibility.

My train of thought was interrupted by a smothered snort from Daisy. She 転換d her 長，率いる on my shoulder and mumbled something.

"Eh?" I said.

She was asleep. Never before or since have I met a woman so divinely conversationless. It is a sad fact that very few of them will 差し控える from speech when they see that a man wants to think; they imagine that he is either neglecting them, or thinking of some other woman, or 単に sulking. I must have dozed, myself, すぐに after that because the next thing I remembered was Flannery's barman carrying out the Boys and stacking them on the pavement. The girls had evidently gone home earlier. Sadie's boy friend （機の）カム through the door on all fours, 主張するing that he was a cat, and mewing and enjoying himself immensely. The milkman 現れるd swaggering ponderously as though the best 質s of countless milkmen had been 合併するd in him. He flung the gate open with a sublime gesture of dignity, marched out on to the pavement in 集まりd 形式, and fell into the gutter.

"Are they all out?" yelled the barman.

Artie, Flannery's chucker-out, ぼんやり現れるd on the doorstep.

"Z'all out. Posilivly norar one lef'!"

"Lock up, then."

"持つ／拘留する on!" I cried. "I want to get in."

"Can't geddin. Ish after hours."

"But I live here!" I 抗議するd.

"Zame ole tale."

I caught him by the sleeve. "Look here, Artie. I must get in, and I can't if you snap that lock."

He 注目する，もくろむd me suspiciously.

"井戸／弁護士席," he said after a pause, "I'll lesher go in this time but be kefful comin' out. Doan led anyborry see yer carryin' it."

"Come on, Artie," called the barman.

"Comin'," he answered, and rolled toward the gate.

"Now you be kefful!" he 追加するd, turning to me.

The barman caught him by the arm.

"I'm comin'!" he said testily. "Godder tellim-kefful." They weaved their tortuous way up the street, Artie pausing now and then and exhorting the surrounding 空気／公表する to be very careful.

I しっかり掴むd Steak by the shoulder and shook her.

"All 権利," she mumbled, "just half a glass."

She awoke at last and I left her to search for Eggs while I procured a taxi. Eggs had taken a fancy to some vases and pictures, and the wrapping of them 延期するd their 出発, but after 約束ing to phone me in the morning they 棒 away.

The chilly 空気／公表する 先触れ（する）d the approach of a new morning before I rolled into my disordered and broken bed and slept. If some of us were 認めるd a glimpse of the 未来, most of us would remain asleep 無期限に／不明確に, but no 事柄 how 乱打するd, we must stand up to every 一連の会議、交渉／完成する; so when the gong went in the morning I was on my feet and 形態／調整ing up to another day.

CHAPTER IX

The postman was very late that morning, which surprised me as he was usually as 正規の／正選手 in his movements as a 政府 road-mender. 寺 始める，決める his clock by him. When he did appear, it was plain that he had been a guest at our party the previous night. He flung a letter at me as he passed and moaned in answer to my cheery 迎える／歓迎するing. I called him 支援する.

"Only the one letter?"

"There was one from the Gas Company, but I threw it 負かす／撃墜する the drain like you told me to," he answered huffily.

"That's 権利," I said. "If you get one that looks as if it （機の）カム from the Income 税金 Department, put it 負かす／撃墜する the same drain."

He grunted and moved off. I understood how he felt.

The envelope was 演説（する）／住所d to Stanley, so I opened it. It 含む／封じ込めるd a five 続けざまに猛撃する 公式文書，認める which I pocketed for Stanley's own good. It might have got him into trouble and I had to look after the boy. The letter was written in Agatha's unique spiral 支援する-手渡す and the gist of it was that she was sorry she had left him in the same house as myself, but that he was to keep pure and good にもかかわらず, and 避ける me as much as possible. Followed sundry items of 広大な／多数の／重要な 利益／興味 about Stanley's grandmother and Stanley's grandmother's parrot. A postscript について言及するd the enclosure of the five 続けざまに猛撃する 公式文書，認める and 追加するd that Gertrude would 令状 すぐに and send another. Lastly, he was to 控訴，上告 to 寺 if he needed 援助 or 保護, or if someone was 要求するd to stand 保釈（金） for me. Mr. 寺, it seemed, was a very good man. As there was nothing of real 利益／興味 to Stanley in the letter, I tore it up. The fiver was a crisp, new one, やめる a rarity, and I thought I would like to take it up to Flannery and show it to him, calling in at the tobacconist's on the way 支援する. It was my 意向 to buy Stanley some タバコ. I am afraid I spoil the boy.

It was a couple of hours later when I returned. Not until I was inside the house did I realize that I had forgotten the タバコ and I was annoyed at my own absent-mindedness. But perhaps Stanley was better without it. タバコ is an insidious 麻薬: although it has no harmful 影響 on a 円熟した man it is bad for a 青年. There are not many fathers who consider the 福利事業 of their sons as I consider Stanley's. It is a 証拠不十分 in me, this paternal assiduity, but I think a pardonable, even a commendable 証拠不十分. Passing through the house in search of Stanley, I （機の）カム to the laundry and was surprised to hear 発言する／表明するs in the 支援する-yard. I listened.

I could hear Stanley's 発言する／表明する. "Now gimme a fair go," he was 説. "Don't （人が）群がる in on me. How can I get a good spin if you （人が）群がる in on me?"

"Come on," growled a 発言する／表明する that sounded ばく然と familiar, "let some light under 'em."

There was silence, and then a faint tinkle.

"Two 長，率いるs! You liddle beauties!" cried Stanley.

I peered 慎重に through the window. The postman, the milkman, a time-支払い（額） collector and someone else whom I did not 認める, were standing in what was meant to be a circle around Stanley. He had a small piece of flat 支持を得ようと努めるd in his 手渡す, on which were balanced two pennies.

The 国家の game was in 進歩.

The boy was 紅潮／摘発するd with the glow of victory.

"I spin for the lot," he called. "Seven and eightpence. 始める，決める the centre! 始める，決める the centre!"

"Two （頭が）ひょいと動く you tail 'em," said the milkman, casting a florin on the ground. "That's all I've got."

"I'll 始める，決める you for the eightpence," said the time-支払い（額） collector casting his mite 負かす／撃墜する beside the florin.

The postman looked worried.

"This is the fourth time you've 長，率いるd 'em," he exclaimed. "If I'd known there was a game on I'd have brought some money."

"So would I," murmured the milkman.

The postman was rummaging in his 捕らえる、獲得する.

"Look here," he cried, with sudden cheerfulness, "I got a 登録（する）d letter here, it might be 価値（がある） quids. If you'll take it on the off-chance, I'll chuck it in and call, it five shillings."

"You're on," said Stanley, "stand away."

Up went the pennies.

"Oh, you liddle King Georges," 詠唱するd Stanley, "show those skulls. Nedkelly, Nedkelly, Ned—"

Clink!

"Two 長，率いるs!" shouted Stanley. "Horray!"

The postman gave a grunt of disgust and made silently for the gate, closely followed by the milkman, the timepayment collector and the stranger.

"Come in again some time," called Stanley. There was no answer.

I left the window and 急いでd into the kitchen as he turned to re-enter the house. He strolled in clinking the coins he had been 投げ上げる／ボディチェックするing.

"How much did you 勝利，勝つ?" I asked.

"Fourteen shillings, counting a 登録（する）d letter."

He spun a penny in the 空気／公表する and as he failed to catch it, it bounced on the 床に打ち倒す and rolled toward my feet.

"My lucky penny!" he cried. "It's always been lucky. 手渡す it over!" he shouted as I put my foot on it.

I 選ぶd it up and twirled it between my fingers.

It was 二塁打-長，率いるd. Whichever way I looked at it, His Majesty's 王室の features 直面するd me.

"You snake!" I hissed. "You cheat! A son of 地雷—little better than a ありふれた どろぼう!"

He mumbled and looked away. I laughed 激しく. "A Gudgeon," I said, "with a 二塁打-長，率いるd penny! Have you no sense of decency? Is the honourable 指名する of your ancestors nothing to you?"

I took a stride toward him.

"Father!" he cried weakly.

"Silence!" I roared. "を引き渡す half the winnings."

"Don't be silly!"

I turned and ran toward the 前線 door.

"Milkman!" I shouted. "Milkman!"

"Come here!" shouted Stanley, bounding after me, "Here's five shillings."

"That's not half. Milkman!"

A musical and peculiarly milkman-like gurgle answered me and the milkman （機の）カム into 見解（をとる） swinging his pint-手段.

"Here, damn you," hissed Stanley, "seven shillings."

"'Ullo?" said the milkman, leaning against the gate.

"Leave an extra pint in the morning for the 未来, please, old chap," I answered.

He nodded and moved off to his 労働s and I shut the door.

I could see by Stanley's 直面する that there would be trouble about this 事件／事情／状勢. He clicked his fingers in an exasperated manner and looked at me as a muzzled cat would look at a mouse-穴を開ける.

I didn't want to antagonize the boy. We had to live together as happily as possible, so I tried to 勝利，勝つ him over.

"井戸／弁護士席," I said soothingly, "What have you got that 直面する on you for?"

"Huh!" he grunted, and tasting a ちらりと見ること at my left boot, he turned and strode 支援する to the kitchen. It is hard to know how to 扱う／治療する a boy like Stanley. No 事柄 how much I try I cannot please him. I remembered that he had not even thanked me for the タバコ I had ーするつもりであるd to buy him. Second thoughts reminded me that I had not 知らせるd him of my 意向s and I followed him, with the idea of bringing him to a proper 明言する／公表する of 感謝 for the タバコ and 悔恨 for his 憤慨.

He was sprawled out in a 議長，司会を務める 近づく the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, with his 手渡すs in his pockets and the 表現 of an under-paid （強制）執行官 with an abcess.

"Stanley," I said, pulling a 議長，司会を務める up to the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する. "When I was going out a little while ago, I thought I would buy you some タバコ."

"タバコ!"

I never knew until then, the 可能性s of a word like タバコ. I have since decided that should a foreigner ever say "タバコ!" at me with 十分な vehemence I shall give him in 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金.

"What would I do with seven shillings 価値（がある） of タバコ?" he spluttered, after a long pause.

"Stanley," I said 静かに. "Do not try to imagine yourself as a member of the League of Nations and that you have been despoiled and are する権利を与えるd to 十分な 賠償s and then some."

"港／避難所't I been despoiled?" he 需要・要求するd.

"You have not," I replied. "We will carry the League of Nations idea a little さらに先に, so that I may explain to you. You, as a nation, have robbed other nations—that is, the milkman, etcetera—robbed them by means of the 力／強力にする given you by your 軍備s and superior 器具／備品—the 二塁打-長，率いるd penny. I, another nation, cannot 許す you to get away with fourteen shillings from your 犠牲者 without stepping in—"

"For your 削減（する）."

"Don't be so vulgarly direct, Stanley. Remember you are at Geneva now. As I was 説, I must step in. Now I am a 大多数."

"売春婦, are you!" he bawled.

"Yes, I am. I could lay you out in one 攻撃する，衝突する if necessary, therefore I am a 大多数. I must step in and adjudicate and seeing that the milkman and other nations are unable to 保護する their own 所有物／資産／財産, I will take over half the 略奪する and guard it for them. You, I think, are 扱う／治療するd very 井戸／弁護士席 in 存在 許すd to keep the other half."

"I see," said Stanley. "If I had to give my half 支援する it would 量 to an admission that I had grabbed it, and then you'd have to give your half 支援する."

"We won't go into those 複雑化s, if you please."

"And where do the milkman and postman nations come in? Do they stay robbed?"

"Not やむを得ず. You have to 耐える the opprobrium as the 攻撃者 and all you get out of it is two shillings—" I held up my 手渡す as his mouth opened. "Two shillings," I continued, "and a 譲歩 which will very likely 証明する valueless."

"You mean the 登録（する）d letter?"

I nodded and rose to my feet.

"Supposing that it is not valueless," he cried gloatingly, "supposing that it is very 価値のある?"

"In that 事例／患者," I replied, "there will be some more adjudicating."

I left the room. I had a feeling that the 登録（する）d letter would 含む／封じ込める a 失望 and I did not wish to be 現在の at the 開会式. I was just entering Gertrude's bedroom, which I preferred to my own as its door was still 損なわれていない, when he bounded after me waving the letter.

"Look here!" he shrieked. "Look at it!"

He held the letter before my 注目する，もくろむs. The trembling of his 手渡すs made it difficult to read but as 近づく as I can remember it ran:

MY OWNEST,

Why have you not written to me? Is anything wrong? This is the sixth letter I have written and no answer from my ickle one—and a lot more of that sort of rot, but no money.

"See it!" he shouted. "I get two shillings and you get seven!"

"Be a sportsman, my boy," I said. "You took a chance and you lost. There is nothing worse than a bad loser. Be a sportsman."

"Sportsman!" he shouted. "Why, if you were half a sportsman you'd 株 that seven shillings with me."

I smiled derisively and walked into the bedroom.

"I'll 投げ上げる／ボディチェックする you for it," he cried, に引き続いて me. "You're such a sportsman!"

"I am a sportsman," I said gently, "and since you 願望（する） it, we will 投げ上げる／ボディチェックする to see whether I halve the seven shillings with you or you pass over your two shillings to me."

"権利."

"I will 投げ上げる／ボディチェックする," I said, "and call."

"You can't 投げ上げる／ボディチェックする and call too!" he expostulated.

"井戸／弁護士席 then, we will place the coin on the 最高の，を越す of the door so that the coin 落ちるs on the other 味方する. Is that fair? I wish to be 厳密に fair with you, Stanley, and 扱う／治療する you in a sportsmanlike way."

"That's fair enough," he agreed.

I placed the coin on the 最高の，を越す of the door, we stepped out into the hall and I heaved はっきりと on the door-knob and called 長，率いるs.

"You said 長，率いるs?" questioned Stanley. "That means that if it is a tail, I collect three and six from you."

"And if it is a 長，率いる, you give me two shillings," I 追加するd.

We opened the door slowly. The penny lay on the 床に打ち倒す, serene, fateful, 決定的な.

"It's a 長，率いる," I said. "Give me two shillings."

He sighed and 手渡すd it to me. He gazed mournfully at me for a while and then shambled away. I put his 二塁打-長，率いるd penny in my pocket again as a coin of this sort is a 価値のある 取得／買収 to a 冒険的な man. I then shut the door.

CHAPTER X

Sitting on the bed, I clasped my 手渡すs and 星／主役にするd at the clock on the little （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する 近づく me. I don't know how long I sat there. I was not thinking. I was just looking at the clock. Not that there was anything 特に remarkable about it. I did not regard it so much as a clock, as something to look at. I am not a man who goes about seeing sermons in 石／投石するs or lectures in bricks, or the 降下／家系 of man in a piece of bone. I can see 構成要素 for a 審議 in a heap of road-metal but I am not the type that can gaze on a Seville orange and weep for the glory that was Spain. Had I been like that I would have gazed past that clock to its old home-town in Switzerland. I would have 見通しd the スイスの clock-製造者s perched on the アルプス山脈 and yodelling happily over their work. I would have seen the スイスの maidens condensing the milk and throwing the nuts into the chocolates. The cows browsing in the streets. The cheeses by the lake. The lakes clogged with tourists.

But I was just looking at the clock. It was as if my mind had said, "Now you look at that clock till I come 支援する;" and had then 出発／死d leaving me a mere 団体／死体, a 爆撃する whose whole 見通し in life was clock. Utterly blank-minded. Governmentally 雇うd, so to speak. It is hard to 述べる my 明言する／公表する of mind—or my 欠如（する） of any 明言する／公表する of mind; but it is necessary to 述べる it. I believe that when one is in this 明言する／公表する one gets messages from Beyond. The line is （疑いを）晴らす, there are no statics, and one has premonitions, vague prophetic feelings ぼんやり現れる on one; the 広大な／多数の／重要な 不明瞭 is lit for a while by a feeble blue 炎上 before one is hurried 支援する to earth and the 不明瞭 again.

I had a feeling of 差し迫った trouble. As the browsing lamb sees the 影をつくる／尾行する of the 強硬派 on the grass, so I saw trouble. 徐々に the clock 軍隊d itself on me. It ticked at me. Its little 手渡す went around. Every tick was a second nearer the 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な; my life was ebbing away, ebbing away—second by second.

I was in a very bad 明言する／公表する.

There was a loud knock on the door, and Stanley appeared. A real Stanley, plain human meat, of the earth earthy. At sight of him my fit of abstraction 消えるd and my mind 再開するd 商売／仕事 at the same old stand.

"井戸／弁護士席?" I queried.

"Steak just phoned and said she's going to the races with Eggs and she wants us to come and 会合，会う her out there. You'll have to hurry. I'm almost ready. Don't bother about a shave."

"Come on, hurry up."

"Races? What races?"

"Randwick races. Get a collar on and a coat. Just 同様に you have another coat besides the one that got burnt. I'll have to get you a hat somewhere. Look lively or we'll be late."

He scurried out of the room, and the bedroom door, the 前線 door and the gate slammed almost 同時に behind him. I rose to my feet. I didn't want to go to the races. I just 手配中の，お尋ね者 to sit 負かす／撃墜する and think. Besides, I had only about eight 続けざまに猛撃するs 含むing Agatha's 出資／貢献 and I wasn't going to be financially butchered to make a holiday for the gimme-girls. I sat 負かす／撃墜する again. A loud 衝突，墜落ing of doors and gates resounded through the house and Stanley suddenly appeared in the room like a 行う／開催する／段階 demon.

"Not dressed yet!" he squeaked breathlessly.

"I'm not—"

"Here's a hat of 寺's I've borrowed for you," he gasped, and threw it to me.

"I'm not—"

"Come on. Get your coat. I've phoned for a taxi, it will be here any moment."

"I'm not going!" I shouted.

"Don't be silly, dad. This collar looks clean enough. I 設立する it in the hall. Got your studs?"

"Listen to me, Stanley. I am not going. Don't try these トルネード，竜巻 策略 on me; I'm not going."

"Aw, be yourself, dad! You're not working. There's no money coining in. Steak knows an 絶対の cert for to-day. 適切な時期 only knocks once. Come on!"

The door-bell rang.

"That's the taxi-man!" he exclaimed. "Here, put your coat on."

I clambered into my coat as he 急ぐd out of the room. He was 支援する in something under a second with my tie and studs.

"You can put these on in the car," he gasped, slamming a hat on my 長，率いる. He しっかり掴むd me by the arm, swung me out of the room, out the 前線 door, out the gate and into the taxi.

"Randwick!" he cried. "運動 like hell!" and the car leapt 今後.

"Keep の近くに to that car in 前線," I 追加するd, "and if it stops, shoot to kill."

I struggled out of the hat, which was much too small and jammed 負かす／撃墜する on my ears.

"What are you talking about?" said Stanley. "What car in 前線?"

"There's always a car in 前線," I replied testily. "A 黒人／ボイコット の近くにd-in car, and it 勝利，勝つd in and out streets until it pulls up at a 砂漠d house and they all get out and carry the unconscious girl into the cellar and we surround the house and 逮捕（する） the Master Mind who turns out to be the butler."

He 星／主役にするd at me.

"You're mad!" he said.

"Have it your own way," I replied, and proceeded to adjust my collar.

I made no （民事の）告訴 to Stanley for literally dragging me out of the house and throwing me into a taxi. I had been 事実上 誘拐するd—shanghaied; but the thing was done. It was no use 反対するing. It was all a piece with my presentiments and I sensed the presence of the finger of 運命／宿命. I am a fatalist and believe that what will be, will be; what is, is; and what was, was; and so on through the verbs. I am not alone in my belief, the modern 傾向 of thought is more and more in that direction and I いつかs 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑う that even the 鉄道 Commissioners operate their 乗客 services on the same 原則. Stanley must have been thinking on 類似の lines. He had been gazing at the taximeter, a thing I never do in a taxi as it takes half the 楽しみ out of the ride. He seemed to be fascinated by the 冷淡な-血d inexorableness of the thing.

"You know, father," he said, "all life is a 賭事."

"A 高度に 初めの 発言／述べる, my boy," I replied, "I suppose then that Randwick race-会合 is the quintessence of life and a 王室の 決まりきった仕事 紅潮／摘発する would be the 頂点（に達する） of 存在?"

"It would be the end of your 存在 if you were playing at the （軍の）野営地，陣営 with the boys. Wouldn't it be funny if we won a thousand 続けざまに猛撃するs to-day?"

"Funny! The braw laddies of the Highland Society would laugh their sporrans off. May I 問い合わせ the basis of these hopes for fun? How are we to 参加する in this 抱擁する joke?"

"Don't try to be sarcastic, father. It 少なくなるs my 尊敬（する）・点 for you."

"Your 尊敬（する）・点 for your poor old father is already a minus 量. It only appears on 支払う／賃金-days. You 港／避難所't answered my question."

He leaned over and clutched my ear.

"Steak has a 石／投石する moral," he whispered.

"A 石／投石する moral."

"Ssh!"

"What's a 石／投石する moral?"

"Don't talk so loud. It's a certainty. It can't be beaten. There's only one horse in it."

"Oh, 井戸／弁護士席, in that 事例／患者," I said, leaning 支援する in my corner, "it certainly must 勝利，勝つ."

"Of course it'll 勝利，勝つ; you can put your undies on it."

"Seems rather strange, though," I ruminated, "having only one horse in the race. Any fool せねばならない see that it must 勝利，勝つ."

"Arrgh!"

I relapsed into my corner again.

The taximeter, 泡，激怒することing at the mouth, 破壊するd another shilling and gnashed its teeth in 予期 of the next. The tick menace is not 限定するd to our country 地区s.

"Who is going to 支払う／賃金 this 雷 calculator?" I asked, pointing to it.

"That's all 権利. I'll see to that," replied Stanley with a contemptuous flirt of his 手渡す that must have 大いに disheartened the メーター. "It's only twelve shillings," he 追加するd.

"Where did you get it?" I exclaimed.

"寺. Good feller. Stung him for a couple."

"広大な／多数の／重要な!" I cried. "Serves him damn 井戸／弁護士席 権利!" I had begun to dislike 寺 and to hear of his lending money to Stanley was 甘い music to 地雷 ears. Anything lent to Stanley can be lined up with the Pyramids, the Sphinx, the 国家の 負債 and such-like time 反抗するing monuments.

"Leger reserve, sir?"

The driver spoke through the 支援する of his neck after the manner of his 肉親，親類d. The car pulled up and we decanted ourselves on to the pavement. Stanley paid the driver and we walked toward the 入り口.

"Synagogue 支配するs," he said. "Take yourself in and 支払う／賃金 for yourself."

We clattered through the turnstiles.

A horde of race-調書をとる／予約する 販売人s 爆発させるd in our 直面するs. "調書をとる／予約する! 調書をとる／予約する! 調書をとる／予約する! Bookertherazes! 調書をとる／予約する, sir?"

I bought two and 手渡すd one to Stanley.

"That squares us," I said. "You paid for the taxi and I've paid for the programmes."

"If there's a harder man than you," he said, taking the 調書をとる／予約する,

"I'll bet he stands on a pedestal in Hyde Park wrought in solid bronze."

"Where have we to 会合，会う Steak?" I said coldly.

"Over by the first stand—there she is!"

I looked as he pointed, and saw Steak and Eggs with two men, one of whom seemed to be drunk.

"Who are those men?" I asked, waving my 手渡す at the same time to Steak.

"Dunno," he answered in a puzzled 発言する／表明する.

As we drew nearer to them a strange feeling of 逮捕 stole over me. Their 直面するs left me perturbed. I felt that the only way these men could 達成する 人気 in a civilized community would be for them to become 無線で通信する announcers. Unseen Uncle Georges 厳粛に 発表するing a glut of onions in the market. Later, when I heard their 発言する／表明するs, I was 軍隊d to 否定する them even this faint hope. We doffed our hats and 迎える／歓迎するd the ladies.

"So glad you （機の）カム," said Eggs in an enthusiastic 発言する／表明する. "I don't think you've met our friends. Mister Simpson; Mister Gudgeon. Mister Stanley Gudgeon—Mister Slatter—Gudgeons. Mix!"

As we shook 手渡すs I made a mental 公式文書，認める of Stanley's perfidy in divulging my 指名する. Smith is good enough for me.

"Gonna 支援する all the 勝利者s?" asked Mr Slatter pleasantly. Or as pleasantly as he could. He was not the type of man I usually associate with. He was tall and very 幅の広い about the shoulders, attired in a silvery-grey 控訴 and a hard hat. His features reminded me of the cliffs at South 長，率いる, and his nose, which had evidently been broken at some time, had a disposition to lounge about his 直面する. I pictured him shaving with a 大打撃を与える and a 冷淡な chisel.

"I hope so, Mr Slatter," I replied.

"Call me Woggo," he said, spitting over my shoulder. "All the boys call me that. Where's Dogsbody?" he 追加するd, gazing around.

I 結論するd that "Dogsbody" was the inebriated Mr. Simpson's 貿易（する） 指名する and turned to see him a little distance away, leaning on Stanley and breathing very confidently into his 直面する.

"Come on, Dosb'dy," bawled Woggo. "We're going の間の the （犯罪の）一味."

I took Steak's arm and moved off toward the betting-（犯罪の）一味.

"Your friend has evidently been looking on the ワイン when it was red," I 発言／述べるd to her.

"He'd look on it if it was purple and had frogs in it." She squeezed my arm. "Glad you （機の）カム, honey," she said.

"Have you known Mr Slatter long?" I asked.

"Woggo? He's all 権利. We get the dinkum oil off him. He knows all the (v)策を弄する／(n)騎手s and trainers and everything. He was born in a horse-気圧の谷 and carried 一連の会議、交渉／完成する in a nose-捕らえる、獲得する when he was a child. You don't want to worry about him."

"What does he know for this race?"

She stopped and put her mouth の近くに to my ear. "King Rabbit," she whispered. "He's an 部外者 and he'll be any old price. Put a couple of 続けざまに猛撃するs on for me."

She kissed me on the ear.

She was a gimme, but twenty years of life fell from me, and I kicked them out of the way as I walked on. The frantic clamour of the bookmakers roared around us as we entered the （犯罪の）一味. Men and women 殺到するd about the stands 投げつけるing money away with both 手渡すs. Punters pleaded to be 許すd to lay 半端物s on the favourite and 肘d each other out of the way in their earnest 願望（する） to be robbed. Tip-slingers, urgers and whisperers slunk like jackals through the （人が）群がる, and 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な and 大規模な policemen placed their furtive bets. I shrunk from the ordeal, but how can man die better than by 直面するing fearful 半端物s? The 残り／休憩（する） of the ギャング（団） （機の）カム up and with a parting ちらりと見ること at Steak, I 急落（する），激減（する）d into the 暴動.

Pausing at a stand, I 演説（する）／住所d the open mouth of a bawling bookmaker.

"What price King Rabbit?"

"'Oo? King Rabbit? Never 'eard of it. King Rabbit?—Ar, yes, four to one, King Rabbit."

I turned away.

"井戸／弁護士席, eight to one," he bawled. "Tens!"

I continued on my way.

"Fifteens!" he yelled. "Twenties! 井戸／弁護士席, go to 炎s!"

I 現れるd at long last with my 長，率いる throbbing under 寺's hat and the dust of 衝突 粘着するing to my boots.

Steak was waiting for me, with Eggs. I 手渡すd her a ticket.

"Sixty-eight 続けざまに猛撃するs!" she shrieked. "He must have been thirty-three to one!"

"You went to a good school," I said.

"Girnme half if it 勝利，勝つs," pleaded Eggs.

Steak impaled her with a ちらりと見ること.

"This is my ticket," she said coldly. "Stanley will get yours."

"But he's only putting ten shillings on for me," wailed Eggs.

"欠陥のある work," said Steak succinctly. "Come and we'll watch the race, honey," she 追加するd, taking my arm.

Never, never shall I forget that race. When I am old and peevish, sans teeth, sans hair, and shod with elastic-味方するd boots, I shall be content 単に with the memory of that race. When St Peter asks me my greatest 陳列する，発揮する of charity and fortitude on earth, my answer will be that I 差し控えるd from choking Steak when King Rabbit won the Grantham 火刑／賭けるs.

When the 障壁 went up, the (v)策を弄する／(n)騎手 seemed やめる oblivious to the fact that I had four 続けざまに猛撃するs on his 開始する. He appeared to go to sleep on the horse's neck. They wallowed 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the bend behind everything else that had 脚s. The (v)策を弄する／(n)騎手 seemed to be about as useful as a wart on the hip and I groaned aloud.

To this day, I believe the horse heard me. He laid his ears 支援する, opened his mouth and 加速するd. He threw his 脚s about in wild abandon. His hoofs touched the turf 単に here and there. He flung himself along like a thing gone mad. His tail stood out. Like a chestnut 弾丸 he swept past the field, past the favourite, past the winning-地位，任命する, and twice around the course before he could be pulled up. 麻薬d, of course.

The 広大な／多数の／重要な, beautiful, 勇敢に立ち向かう beast, may he live for a hundred years and die in a lucerne paddock surrounded by his progeny.

Hoarse with shouting, my 手渡すs sore from （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域ing the railing, I 補助装置d the almost unconscious Steak out of the （人が）群がる. The stricken punters were very, very 静かな and the happy laughter of the bookmakers 急落（する），激減（する）d the アイロンをかける into their souls.

Thirty-three to one! Even now my 手渡す trembles as I 令状.

One hundred and thirty-six 続けざまに猛撃するs I collected, and sixty-eight for Steak. If horses have halos when they die, King Rabbit should look like a zebra. We were joined by the 残り／休憩（する） of the party. I 手配中の，お尋ね者 to go home. I was padded with 公式文書，認めるs. Steak was crying on my shoulder; Eggs was in 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 of the matron in the ladies' waiting-room; Stanley and the drunken Simpson were dancing like 耐えるs in the 中央 of an 利益／興味d （人が）群がる. Woggo Slatter stood aloof and not a pore of his 肌 opened or shut. Not a smile 乱すd his granite 直面する. A cigarette hung from the corner of his mouth, and when I sighted him he was buying a packet of chewing-gum. Chewing-gum! Fancy 存在 able to chew!

I parked Daisy in the grandstand and went to him.

"Thanks for the tip, old man," I said, しっかり掴むing him by the 手渡す. "Thanks very much."

"'Sall 権利," he drawled. "We has our lucky days. I might want ter put the fangs の間の you for twenty or so one er these days. What are you goin' to do now?"

"I'm going home."

He 転換d his cigarette to the other 味方する of his mouth.

"Don't go yet," he said. "Got another one. Be a short price, but it's good."

He tipped his hat over one 注目する，もくろむ and walked away.

Stanley touched my arm.

"Hello!" I said. "Corroboree finished?"

"The police stopped it," he whispered.

"What are you whispering for? Are they after you?"

"No," he said in an almost inaudible 発言する／表明する, "it's my throat. I couldn't talk at all a while ago. I don't care if I'm never able to yell again. Wasn't it wonderful?"

"Oh, fair 業績／成果, I suppose. What are you going to do now?"

"I'm going home if I can get away from Eggs," he whispered.

I 熟考する／考慮するd the nail on my little finger for a moment. "Don't go yet," I said. "Got another one. Short price, but good," and 攻撃するing my hat over my forehead I strolled away and left him gaping.

Returning to the stand, I 設立する Maureen and Daisy sitting with their 長，率いるs の近くに together. Their talk 中止するd suddenly as I （機の）カム up to them. I know women. I buttoned my coat and sat 負かす／撃墜する warily.

"Oh, gee!" sighed Maureen, "wasn't it just too lovely! Whatever are you going to buy me with all that money?"

"If you'll excuse me, Maureen," said Steak in a chilly 発言する／表明する, "Jack is my friend. Go and find Stanley."

"I like Stan," murmured Eggs, "but I don't value his friendship half as much as Jack's. Besides, he's only a boy, really, isn't he?"

I felt that I was 存在 haggled over. Stanley had evidently been 重さを計るd in the balance and 設立する to be under the 限界.

"What about Woggo?" I 示唆するd.

"Woggo!" they echoed. "Ha! Ha!"

That let Woggo out. He was either a member of the 企業連合（する） or an abandoned 地雷.

"Do you know what this next 勝利者 is going to be?" I asked, to change the 支配する.

"Dunno," answered Steak. "Woggo will tell you when the time comes. Here he is now."

Woggo strolled into 見解（をとる） and 停止（させる）d before us. 直す／買収する，八百長をするing his gaze on the horizon, he slowly 一打／打撃d his left ear with three fingers, spat aimlessly in the general direction of the betting-（犯罪の）一味 and moved on. Maureen and Daisy hurriedly turned the pages of their race-調書をとる／予約するs.

"Useless Annie!" they gasped in unison.

"What about her?" I queried, looking around.

"That's it," gabbled Eggs. "That's the pea. Where's Stanley?"

She jumped to her feet and scurried away.

"What do I do now?" I asked, turning to Steak.

"All you've got to do now is to empty the roll out on Useless Annie—and make it snappy. Off you go! I'll wait here."

"The whole lot!" I gasped.

"絶対," she said, giving me a 押し進める. "Put a pony on for me."

I hurried away and burrowed into the betting-（犯罪の）一味. A 努力する／競うing 肘 bored into my ear as I squirmed through the （人が）群がる. It was Stanley. I might have known that with 事実上 the whole 全住民 of Sydney collected in one place, Stanley would 選び出す／独身 me out for 傷害.

I stamped ひどく on his foot.

"Sorry, Stan," I said, patting him on the shoulder, "It's the （人が）群がる, you know. What's a pony?"

"Thassall 権利, dad," he replied, "that wasn't my foot. A pony is a little horse."

He was swept away on a wave of punters before I could land him one. Useless Annie, as Woggo foretold, was a short price. One Hennessy, on the outer 辛勝する／優位 of the （犯罪の）一味, who may かもしれない have been one of the lost tribe, 申し込む／申し出d to lay me fifty 続けざまに猛撃するs to forty and I passed up the money. He made a quivering を刺す with his pencil at the betting-ticket and passed the result 負かす／撃墜する to me.

"What's this?" I asked, 星／主役にするing at the Morse code on the ticket.

"Useless," he snapped, glaring at me. "Fifty 続けざまに猛撃するs to forty. That's vat you vant, ain't it?"

"Useless Annie?" I 問い合わせd meekly.

"Ah, Gor!" he moaned. "Can't you read?"

"All 権利, all 権利," I muttered, and wandered away to the 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業.

A 飛行機で行くing barman, 扱うing glasses like a nervous octopus, 抽出するd the order from between my teeth before I could utter it, and sped away.

"Snappy, eh?" commented Stanley. He was at my 肘. Ubiquitous.

"Stanley," I said, producing the ticket, "what do you make of this?"

"Useless Annie," he said ちらりと見ることing at it. "Who put you on to that zoo fodder?"

"Slatter."

"The urger with the ironstone complexion."

I nodded uneasily.

"Born every day," he muttered, shaking his 長，率いる at his glass. "One a minute."

"What's wrong with it?" I 需要・要求するd.

He leaned に向かって me. "Useless Annie's in the 捕らえる、獲得する." he whispered. "I've 支援するd Bonser Baby. Get on while you've got time."

"But—" I 滞るd, waving my ticket.

"井戸／弁護士席, of course, if you don't want to—don't," he said, shrugging his shoulders.

"Do you think I せねばならない?"

He ちらりと見ることd at me pityingly. "Anyone 選ぶd your pocket yet?"

"No."

"Hmm, funny," he said. Then ひどく he 追加するd, "Go and get your money on. Leave your drink; I'll look after that."

I gulped my drink and hurried away with my mind in a whirl.

The bookmakers were howling that they were 用意が出来ている to lay five to one against Bonser Baby and I took a hundred and fifty 続けざまに猛撃するs to thirty 続けざまに猛撃するs in three bets. I stood to 勝利，勝つ one hundred and fifty, or flay my thirty 続けざまに猛撃するs' 価値（がある） out of Stanley. Something seemed to tell me that I would 勝利，勝つ. I felt 確信して. I decided to 避ける Steak for the nonce, and took up a position 近づく the 跡をつける to watch the race.

It wasn't a race. Some 不満な gentleman の近くに to me 発言／述べるd that it was a mere sanguinary, 雷-struck, 爆破d, confounded and unmentionable 行列. Useless Annie might have been sired by a 激しく揺するing-horse, and as regards its dam, it was damned by all 現在の. The (v)策を弄する／(n)騎手 made a ferocious 陳列する，発揮する with his whip and then realistically fell off and left his horse to browse on the 跡をつける. Bonser Baby was in 前線, with another horse 伸び（る）ing on it 速く and for a moment it looked as if the (v)策を弄する／(n)騎手 of that horse would have to 落ちる off too. Fortunately Bonser Baby, with the 恐れる of the bone-yard in him, 速度(を上げる）d up his lollop and staggered past the 地位，任命する まっただ中に a chorus of 祝賀の groans. The race had not the thrill of the previous one, and although I was pleased to collect my winnings, I was not excited. My presentiments were returning.

I sought Steak and 手渡すd her the ticket for Useless Annie.

"I put fifty on for you," I said with a wry smile, "the 残りの人，物 I put on for myself."

I sat 負かす／撃墜する ひどく beside her.

"Oh, what a pity!" cried Steak. "You poor thing! Are you 絶対 broke?"

"Penniless," I muttered.

"And you put fifty on for me! That was sporty of you, Jack. Here, you'd better take this fiver."

I waved it aside.

"Don't be foolish," she said, 圧力（をかける）ing it into my 手渡す.

I took it and thanked her. "Hard luck," I groaned.

"絶対."

The stand was half 十分な, but she put an arm 一連の会議、交渉／完成する my neck, and 製図／抽選 my 長，率いる の近くに to her mouth kissed me on the chin.

"There's 可能性s in you, honey," she whispered.

"'Ullo! Wot's this?" grated a 厳しい 発言する／表明する.

I looked up and quickly declutched. Slatter was glaring at me and chewing his lip. He looked, to put it mildly, discontented. I felt an empty feeling in my stomach as I rose to my feet. It looked like an even chance of my becoming a co-回答者／被告 or a 死体.

"It's all 権利," cried Steak, rising.

Keeping my 注目する，もくろむs on Slatter, I 辛勝する／優位d, crabwise, away, from him.

"井戸／弁護士席—so long," I called, waving my arm.

"'Ere!" growled Woggo.

I hurried on.

"Come 'ere. I want yer!" he bawled savagely.

I broke into a trot.

"'Ell!" he bellowed, and started after me.

It was then that the 利益s of living a more or いっそう少なく clean life （機の）カム to my 援助（する）. There, on that day, without thought of honour or reward, I put up a 業績／成果 that would have given any Olympic games 候補者 a lesson. I flashed past Stanley who was strolling に向かって the gates with Eggs 粘着するing to his arm like some parasitic growth.

"Father!" he yelled.

"Pace me, boy," I gasped.

"Hey!" called a policeman, dashing toward me.

I slowed 負かす／撃墜する as Stanley （機の）カム up beside me.

"Whatever you've pinched," he panted, "手渡す it over to me. They're bound to search you."

"What's all this?" にわか景気d the constable.

"It—it's his wife," gasped Stanley. "She's dying. We must get a taxi."

I caught a glimpse of Woggo 一時的に off the scent in the （人が）群がる.

"Dying?" queried the constable.

"Yes," I gulped.

"While the Spring 会合's on!" he gasped incredulously.

I nodded vigorously. Woggo had sighted us.

"My 血の塊／突き刺す!" said the policeman. "You can't （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域 women."

"Come on, Stanley!" I cried, and bounded に向かって the gate.

"'Ere!" shouted Woggo.

"Stop!" bawled a policeman.

"Taxi, sir," queried an angel in uniform, as we dashed out the gate.

I 投げつけるd Stanley in and threw myself on 最高の，を越す of him. "Woollahra!" I yelled. "運動 like hell!"

Stanley sat 負かす／撃墜する and straightened his tie as the car bounded away. "Referring to the car in 前線," he said, "do we shoot to kill, in the event of its stopping?"

"If you're trying to be funny, Stanley," I said, 緊急発進するing to my 膝s, "you have selected an inopportune time and run a 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な 危険 of disfigurement for life."

"井戸／弁護士席, what's it all about?"

"Woggo was going to 強襲，強姦 me," I hissed, seating myself.

"Was he? And yet when I first saw him I didn't like him. Funny how you can be mistaken about a feller." He shook his 長，率いる. "And I helped you to get away," he muttered.

"What do you mean?"

Ignoring me, he leaned 今後 and spoke to the driver.

"Go to Castlereagh Street first," he directed.

"What for?" I asked. "What's on at Castlereagh Street?"

"I want to buy a モーター-bike and 味方する-car," he replied, producing a cigar.

"Now!"

"Of course!" he exclaimed, 星／主役にするing at me.

"But it's a holiday. The shops are not open."

"Aw, gee! No," he moaned. "I'll have to wait till to-morrow."

"What part of Woollahra?" 問い合わせd the driver.

"You're not going home, are you?" 抗議するd Stanley.

"Why not?"

"What is the symbol of 業績／成就, the delight—"

"Steak and eggs!" I exclaimed. "King Street, driver."

"Can we get steak and eggs at the 外交官／大使s?" 問い合わせd Stanley, 手渡すing me a cigar.

"We could, I suppose, but it would be called viande of the bull AVEC OEUFS and you'd get it on four plates and have to eat it as if you didn't want to."

"It must be terrible to be in Society. You've been in Society, 港／避難所't you, dad?"

I nodded. I've been in everything in my time, from the harbour to the 救済 Army.

"What do you do when you've got your mouth 十分な and someone asks you a question?"

"井戸／弁護士席," I said, "you can pretend you didn't hear, or you can swallow the lot, or appear to be thinking over the question and chew like mad, or you can shake your 長，率いる and give it up—the question, I mean."

"Sounds pretty rotten. I don't think I'd like it," he decided. "And what about finger-bowls? Do the caterers 供給（する） the towel and soap?"

"井戸／弁護士席, my boy, nowadays people dance between courses so if you really needed a wash, I can see no 推論する／理由 why you should not have a warm bath after the asparagus," I replied.

"We'll go to Guisippi's," decided Stanley. "Pull up at Guisippi's, driver."

The car slowed to a stop and we alighted. Stanley 手渡すd the driver a 公式文書，認める and waved him off with a lordly 空気／公表する. "Keep the change, my man, and don't get drunk," he drawled, and strolled into the restaurant like a retired pawnbroker. I wadded my 公式文書，認めるs 井戸／弁護士席 負かす／撃墜する into my pockets and followed him. Seating myself on the opposite 味方する of the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, I twirled my thumbs while he perused the menu.

"H'm!" he mused. "Devilled lambs' 腎臓s. Hmm. Murray cod. Hm."

The waiter ぱたぱたするd his pinions fretfully and 手渡すd me a menu card.

"Mm!" continued Stanley, 一打／打撃ing his chin, "asparagus on toast. Any bath here?" he asked, ちらりと見ることing at the waiter.

"Nossir."

"Hmm! Fricasse of tripe. Blah! Broiled whiting. Mm!"

I flung my menu card 負かす／撃墜する disgustedly.

"Steak and 爆破d eggs!" I said.

"Steak and 爆破d eggs. Yessir. Steak and 爆破d eggs, one." "Er—mm. Yes. Steak and eggs," said Stanley. "Extra special eggs, waiter, and porterhouse steak."

"Stand the confounded eggs on their 辛勝する／優位s for him," I 追加するd.

"Yessir. 辛勝する／優位 on their eggses—er—eggses on their—"

"Never mind," I said kindly, "waft away with the order."

He wrinkled his forehead and padded off.

"Excellent cuisine?" muttered Stanley. "Never tasted it. What's it like?"

I snatched the menu from him and tore it up. My 神経s were worn to a 罰金 辛勝する／優位 with the afternoon's events and I couldn't 耐える it. "Another word out of you and I'll brain you with the sauce 瓶／封じ込める," I growled.

He scratched his ear slowly with a ten-続けざまに猛撃する 公式文書，認める and 注目する，もくろむd me speculatively.

"What's はうing on you?" he drawled. "You're 事実上 列d in money; you've had a wonderful afternoon, and here you are, 事実上の／代理 like an Arab who wants to steal away and can't get his テント to 倍の up."

The boy was 権利, to a 確かな extent. にもかかわらず the fact that I was nearly two hundred and fifty 続けざまに猛撃するs to the good, I was not contented. My presentiment still gnawed at me. Then there was Slatter. I groaned 静かに and 開始するd the 強襲，強姦 on the steak. Stanley must have read my mind.

"What was Woggo chasing you for, dad?" he asked, 残り／休憩（する）ing both 手渡すs on his fork and 星／主役にするing curiously at me.

"He wasn't chasing me."

"井戸／弁護士席, what were you running away from him for?"

"I wasn't. Do you think I'd run away from that ignorant slob!" I 需要・要求するd, mopping the gravy off my vest.

"Yes."

Stanley can be disconcerting at times.

"I 避けるd him," I said, "because I was afraid that I might lose my temper and 攻撃する，衝突する him. I have killed men, Stanley, with a blow."

"Fancy having a breath like that!" he gasped.

"At the very least," I continued, "I would have disfigured him."

"You couldn't disfigure a 直面する like that. Almost any alteration would be an 改良," he commented. "All the same, I wish you'd had a go. The boys will have the laugh on me now. Anyhow, how do you know he won't follow you?"

"If he follows me, he does so at his own 危険," I retorted.

Had I not felt so depressed I would have been amused by Stanley's questions. The only way I ever discovered what 恐れる meant, was by looking it up in the dictionary, when I 設立する it to be "a painful emotion excited by 差し迫った danger," and that is all the knowledge I have of 恐れる. I have been called a 勇敢に立ち向かう man. Modesty 許すs no discussion of the 事柄, but I have lived with Agatha and Gertrude, I have seen the hotel door shut in my 直面する on a Saturday night, and I have pinned an Orangeman's badge on a drunken Irishman. The Irishman was colourblind, of course, but I took the 危険 with his instinct. I was not afraid of Slatter; he was something 有形の that could be dealt with. It was the dreadful feeling of 差し迫った trouble that perturbed me.

I had finished my meal and was scooping the last 痕跡s from my plate. Stanley tapped me on the arm and I paused with the knife half-way into my mouth.

"Have they any bigger cups than those they gave us last time?" he 問い合わせd.

"Stanley," I remonstrated, "surely you must know that it is a very rude and vulgar thing to interrupt people when they are eating? I might have 削減（する） my mouth off."

"Sorry, dad," he 滞るd. "Is it vulgar to drink シャンペン酒 out of tea-cups? Or do we have to use coffee-cups?"

"The bigger and oftener the cups, the いっそう少なく necessity for the observance of trivial 条約s. Ask for jugs."

The waiter coasted 負かす／撃墜する to our （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する and pulled up with the silence of a Rolls-Royce 霊柩車.

"Yessir?"

"A 瓶／封じ込める of シャンペン酒, waiter," ordered Stanlev.

"Two 瓶／封じ込めるs," I put in.

The waiter's 注目する，もくろむs glistened.

"Three 瓶／封じ込めるs!" 宣言するd Stanley.

"Four no-trumps!" cried the waiter.

We 星／主役にするd at him.

"Sorry, sir," he stammered. "容赦—forgot myself. Three 瓶／封じ込めるs. Yessir."

Stanley tapped his forehead as the man hurried away.

"橋（渡しをする）d," he muttered pityingly; "probably from birth."

I nodded. I had seen too much of that sort of thing to pity the man. In the 早期に days of my married life Agatha had 脅すd to 離婚 me for failing to lead the ten of diamonds. By some outrageous whim of a malicious 運命／宿命 we subsequently won the rubber and she stayed with me. I have never played the game since.

The シャンペン酒 enlivened me. It thrilled and uplifted me like the fangs of a bull-ant. シャンペン酒 is another symbol of 業績／成就. It puts a laurel 花冠 支援する の中で the 残り／休憩（する） of the shrubs. If 頭痛s were created for any practical 目的, it was to show the glory of シャンペン酒. To 強調する the beauty of the rose by the magnitude of its thorns. And we had five 瓶／封じ込めるs, altogether.

It was with 広大な／多数の／重要な difficulty that the waiter and I managed to carry Stanley out to a taxi, some time later. It would have been 平易な, only the fool waiter, muddling 一連の会議、交渉／完成する with his end of Stanley, made me lose my balance and 落ちる to the 床に打ち倒す several times before reaching the footpath. The man was 強いるing enough and I gave him a handful of 続けざまに猛撃する 公式文書，認めるs as some slight recompense for his trouble, 勧めるing him at the same time to bank some. He 申し込む／申し出d to go in the taxi with us and 手配中の，お尋ね者 to 小衝突 me 負かす／撃墜する. I couldn't stand for the 小衝突ing 負かす／撃墜する. 前向きに／確かに couldn't stand for it.

We left the restaurant, with the waiter standing in the doorway gazing sadly after us, as though he had 行方不明になるd an 適切な時期 to relieve his fellow-men.

CHAPTER XI

I forget how we got home, and how it （機の）カム about that we both decided to sleep on the door-mat instead of in bed. Probably it was a hot night. I do not indulge in the stupidity of cluttering up my mind with the memory of insignificant 詳細（に述べる）s and I am unable to remember anything about it. The milkman 乱すd me in the morning and I had hardly snuggled 支援する on to the mat when the man who 配達するs the morning papers struck me in the ear with a deliberately 目的（とする）d HERALD. By the time the postman arrived Stanley was awake and I sent him to the gate for the letters. There were three of them and as a number of 女性（の） 放送者s in the terrace opposite were hanging out of their windows like dogs' tongues, we retired into the house before 開始 the letters.

Stanley flung them on the kitchen-（米）棚上げする／（英）提議する and we sat 負かす／撃墜する. Only one was 演説（する）／住所d to me and that was from the 平易な 支払い（額） Company. 平易な 支払い（額）; the savage irony of the 称する，呼ぶ／期間／用語!

It was a final notice to the 影響 that they would 除去する the gramophone if 支払い（額） was not made within seven days. I とじ込み／提出するd it away の中で the other final notices, wondering why the postman had bothered to 配達する the thing. Perhaps the drain was 十分な. I 解決するd to speak to him about it. The other two letters were to Stanley, from Agatha and Gertrude. I read Gertrude's letter while Stanley was reading Agatha's. Gertrude's letter I read once then, and several times afterwards. It burnt itself into my brain. It hoisted my gorge. I can 引用する it almost word for word. It ran:

DEAR STANLEY,

I have prayed for you every day since your mother and I left the house. I feel like a 殺害者, leaving you there with your father. Although he is your father I feel it is my 義務 to 警告する you to be 用心深い of him. Not only is he a lazy, drunken, vulgar, hypocritical old blackguard, but he is a dangerous man. Your mother has done 井戸／弁護士席 to leave him, if only for a time. Your grandmother thinks so, too. It is a blessing that you take after your mother's 味方する of the family.

I had wondered why you did not 令状 each day giving particulars of J.G.'s 行為／行う, but remembered that you would be busy 熟考する／考慮するing for the Public Service examination that you told me about. We are having some very hot 天候 here, and Granny's parrot is looking very 貧しく. I hope you are 熟考する／考慮するing hard to fit yourself for a position in the world and have not forgotten to wear your flannels. Keep an 注目する，もくろむ on J.G. and be 絶えず vigilant, because (I hate to say this, Stanley) I think your father is a philanderer.

Love and best wishes from Aunt Gertrude.

P.S.: I am trying to 説得する your mother to 告訴する for a 離婚, so don't be alarmed if you see any men lurking around the house, as they will only be 私立探偵s.

The mere memory of that letter makes me grind my teeth. What a poisonous woman! The 寛容 of civilized communities is overdone when such women are 許すd to reach 成熟. The people of Australia are too easygoing. In any other country she would have been dealt with. America would have had an Anti-Gertrude League and 禁じるd her. On the Continent, the whole 連邦／共和国 of peace-loving nations would have 無法者d her like 毒（薬）-gas and 潜水艦s. But here in this land of too much freedom she is 許すd to take her place with human 存在s and go about without even 存在 muzzled! I felt bad enough as it was, without having 侮辱 flung at me through the 地位，任命する. I chewed my fingernails and looked across at Stanley.

He was looking at me and 持つ／拘留するing his forehead on with both 手渡すs. I could see that he was in a vile temper.

"About that fiver!" he grunted.

"About what fiver?"

"The five-続けざまに猛撃する 公式文書，認める ma sent me. Where is it?"

"I don't know what you're talking about. How long have I been treasurer?"

"Ever since you've been 長官 and correspondence clerk."

"Stanley," I said, 押し進めるing my 議長，司会を務める 支援する, "if you have so far forgotten yourself as to 告発する／非難する your own father of having robbed you; if you are so despicable as to think that I would open your letters; if you are so niggardly as to haggle over a filthy fiver—take it!"

I sorted out a fiver and flung it at him.

"Keep it," he growled, and threw it 支援する at me.

"It's 価値（がある） five 続けざまに猛撃するs to 保持する the grudge, isn't it?" I replied sarcastically. He made a strange rasping noise 伝えるing contempt.

"Here," I said, throwing the 公式文書，認める 支援する to him, "go and get five 続けざまに猛撃するs 価値（がある） of aspirin tablets for yourself."

His mouth flickered in a feeble smile.

"Aw, gee! Yes. Aspirin tablets." He pulled himself to his feet and plodded to the door.

"Aspirins!" he gasped, fumbling with the 扱う. "モーター-bike."

The telephone bell rang with a piercing tingle that 始める，決める my brains （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域ing against my forehead.

Stanley groaned, and staggering to the phone 解除するd the receiver off. "Oh, go on," he moaned in a stricken 発言する／表明する. "Say what you've got to say. It's me speaking, hullo, damn you."

A moment of silence.

"Oh—Daisy! Oh, I'm splendid, thanks. Dad? Yes. He's in the kitchen. I'll call him."

"I'm not in!" I shouted.

"Hello. He's not in. Yes, he was in the kitchen a while ago. Up on the roof, I think. Eh? Yes. Another kitten. Don't know when he'll be 負かす／撃墜する—got to take part of the roof off. Yes. Call him a bit later. Good-bye."

He dropped the receiver on the 床に打ち倒す and dragged his feet toward the 前線 door.

"Going out, Stanley?" I called.

"I think so," he replied weakly. "I'm flickering."

The door slammed behind him and I 圧力（をかける）d my forehead against the gas-stove. The touch of the 冷淡な metal was like the 手渡す of a 約束-healer. It was uncomfortable ひさまづくing on the 床に打ち倒す with my 長，率いる to the stove, so I 解除するd the door off it and carried it into Gertrude's room and laid 負かす／撃墜する on it.

And 悲惨 急襲するd on me like a 疫病／悩ます of locusts.

Woggo and Daisy, Stanley and Maureen, Gertrude and Agatha, 離婚, 私立探偵s, and Woggo and Woggo and Woggo. My brain 続けざまに猛撃するd along on three cylinders and my thoughts plodded 一連の会議、交渉／完成する and 一連の会議、交渉／完成する like divers with lead boots on. I thought of Slatter. Slatter would stop at nothing. A man with a 直面する like that would be 有能な of anything from 強襲，強姦 and 殴打／砲列 負かす／撃墜する to selling 採掘 株. Steak was his 共犯者; she was the vampire who had clutched me in her coils and would 捜し出す to drain me in the depths of her web. Eggs would help her. Gertrude was a scorpion bent on surrounding me with 私立探偵s. My every movement would be watched. Agatha was 緊張するing every 神経 to drag my 指名する through the 離婚 法廷，裁判所. I pictured myself playing an accordion in the streets to raise the 別居手当，扶養料.

Stanley! The blight of my life. The waster who would not go to work. 熟考する／考慮するing hard for the Public Service examination! Who was going to support me? What did Stanley care? Even now, I thought, he may be careering 一連の会議、交渉／完成する on a モーター-cycle with a 味方する-car 十分な of aspirins, while his poor father lies sick and worried at home with only the door of the gas-stove for company. My forebodings had eventuated. My presentiments had 広げるd into reality. True, I had money. The taxidriver had either 行方不明になるd his 適切な時期 or had not been in the 商売／仕事 long for I still had over two hundred 続けざまに猛撃するs. But what is wealth? Dross. A man spends half his life chasing it, and if he catches it he spends the other half of his life trying to 持つ／拘留する it 負かす／撃墜する. Can wealth get one into heaven? If it can, what is to stop Henry Ford from getting there? Ridiculous. Imagine a heaven smeared with lubricating oil, with all the angels in 全体にわたるs, 標準化するd harps and halos with inner-tubes! In the 広大な／多数の／重要な moments of life, wealth is as nothing. What are riches to the man who has just been stung by a bull-ant? No. My money was only my fare through the vale of 涙／ほころびs. That is the 不正 of this world. You 支払う／賃金 your fare and walk. What 利益／興味 had I in life? Leaving out the door of the gas-stove—nothing. Where was I 存在 led? Whither was I going? I was 存在 carried hither and thither, willy-nilly, in endless circles, like the stranger who has 雇うd a cab to go two 封鎖するs.

There is a 限界 to one's mental endurance; at least, there is to 地雷. My mind 作品 急速な／放蕩な and finishes 早期に. Overtime is a 二塁打 草案 on my physical 資源s, and as I had 事実上 exhausted myself the previous evening, I fell asleep.

I slept till 井戸／弁護士席 into the afternoon and was awakened by Stanley bringing a モーター-cycle into the room. I did not wake 完全に until he started it up and 加速するd it. The plaster 開始するd to 落ちる from the 天井 in flakes. I sat up with my hair on end.

"What do you think of her?" asked Stanley proudly after he had switched it off.

I told him.

"井戸／弁護士席," he said after I had finished, "there's no need to go on like that. You せねばならない be pleased. I am."

Having relieved myself to a 確かな extent, I regarded him more calmly.

"Where's the 味方する-car?" I asked.

"Outside," he replied, jerking his thumb in the direction of the street. "It got knocked off as I was coming around Flannery's corner. I don't know why the devil they want to put telegraph 政治家s 近づく corners—it's madness. Just 同様に it （機の）カム off though; I couldn't have got the bike through the doorway with the 味方する-car on it. That is, I don't think so. It'll be 平易な to put on again. Of course, it's dented a bit—"

"Did you bring anything to eat or drink?" I put in impatiently.

"No," he replied, "but I'll go straight up to Strathfield now, and get something."

"Strathfield!" I yelled. "Strathfield is twenty miles away!"

He patted the cycle.

"She'll do eighty, all out," he bragged. "Lemme see twenty miles there and twenty miles 支援する. Forty. I'll be 支援する in half an hour."

I got off the bed and stood up.

"You'll go to the grocer's and call at Flannery's and be 支援する in five minutes," I snapped.

"Oh, all 権利 then," he muttered peevishly.

"Leave that thing here!" I shouted as he made to 開始する the cycle.

"But, father, I could be so much quicker on the bike. I'd be so quick—"

"You'd 会合，会う yourself coming 支援する and catch your own dust, I suppose. Never mind about that; get out and get something to eat."

He murmured and moved away reluctantly.

"Go on!" I shouted.

"Just wait a minute," he mumbled, and snatching a sheet off the bed, he draped it over the cycle and tucked it in. He patted it affectionately on the 扱う-妨げる／法廷，弁護士業.

"Be 支援する すぐに," he said, and tore himself away.

"If you're not 支援する in five minutes, I'll 粉砕する it," I shouted after him.

I was irritable. The room was filled with exhaust gas. The 床に打ち倒す was speckled with white flakes from the 天井, the stove-door lay in the middle of Gertrude's disordered bed, the dressing-（米）棚上げする／（英）提議する lay on its 支援する and an 平易な 議長，司会を務める, upside 負かす／撃墜する, mutely 控訴，上告d with its upstretched 脚s. The whole room was horribly suggestive of the final 行為／法令／行動する of Hamlet. I left the room, shuddering. My own room was just as bad, which was Stanley's fault for locking me in. The 後援d door leaned tiredly against the wardrobe. One end of the bed stood on its own 脚s, the other end, having no 脚s to stand on, 残り／休憩（する）d on the 床に打ち倒す. Sheets, 一面に覆う／毛布s, pillows and mattresses lay about in gorgeous profusion, giving the room the 空気／公表する of an abandoned seraglio. Wandering from room to room I was appalled at the disorder. The laundry was 単に a receptacle for a 集まり of 破片 covered with grey ashes. The kitchen was indescribable. Stanley's room was all impression on a small 規模 of the Tokyo 地震. The bath-room had sunk with all 手渡すs. The 床に打ち倒す was faintly 明白な beneath a sheet of greasy water and the bath itself was filled to the brim. In its depth 残り／休憩（する）d the remains of the 世帯 crockery. The 追跡する from the kitchen to the bath-room was littered with knives and forks, and the whole house was cloaked in dust and a death-like 静める which somehow reminded me of the 穴掘りs of Pompeii. Had I been a vindictive man I would have sent for Agatha and Gertrude, and shown them around. It would have been a simple method of 殺人，大当り them both. Stanley, of course, would never think of trying to straighten things up a little, and as for myself, I do not regard it as a man's sphere to be pottering about tidying things. Man makes the mess; it is the woman's 特権 to clean it up. I thought of 雇うing a woman for an hour or so to give the place a 徹底的な きれいにする out. On second thoughts it seemed to be a 職業 for the City 会議. I 解任するd the problem and wandered out to the 前線 gate.

Stanley was not yet in sight, and I felt hungry and 哀れな and unsettled. I had too much 責任／義務, too many things to think of, too many worries. I yearned for sympathy. I needed 激励. So I went up to Flannery's.

Some men, when they are worried, find 救済 in violent 演習, some put their 約束 in a 冷淡な にわか雨, others go to their beds 早期に and relate their troubles all night to their wives; but Flannery's will do me. Flannery's is a home, and better than a home. You can knock your 麻薬を吸う out on anything and spit anywhere you, like at Flannery's. Always a welcome there, a 肉親，親類d smile and a cheery word. And if they don't like you, they throw you out. A virile place. A place where he-men with red 血 may fill their open spaces—where they fetch Grandad his old Martini and mend a broken heart with a gin sling; where every man can give his order and be obeyed; where everyone gets 発射 and no one dies. Such is Flannery's.

CHAPTER XII

At three o'clock, after I'd had a drink, I felt that there was still hope left in life; at three-thirty, my troubles seemed to dwindle; at five o'clock, I felt やめる 確信して that if any difficulties really did 現在の themselves I could 打ち勝つ them.

At six o'clock I 決定するd to look for Slatter, and having 購入（する）d a baked rabbit and a tin of 甘い corn, I returned to the house to get the axe. What a wonderful difference decent surroundings make to a man!

Dusk had stretched its tired arm across the sky and a little 微風, forerunner of the night, frolicked with 捨てるs of paper on the road. I seated myself on the gas-box and filled my 肺s with the 冷静な／正味の, 甘い 空気／公表する. I am a child of nature and susceptible to her moods, and watching the little clouds hurrying home before it got too dark, and seeing the blush on the horizon's cheek where the dying sun had kissed it, all thoughts of 捜し出すing Woggo 消えるd from my mind. The twilight gave way to the night, the moon strolled out, fat-cheeked and fatherly, の中で the 星／主役にするs, and I ぐずぐず残るd on the gas-box and munched my rabbit. I like rabbit.

I rose after a while and went inside to get the tin-opener. ちらりと見ることing into Gertrude's bedroom as I passed, I noticed that Stanley's モーター-cycle was gone. I was not surprised. It was only natural that the boy should want to ride it all over the globe. He would ride it and ride it and wear the thing 負かす／撃墜する until it was the size of a scooter and then throw it away. I returned to the 前線 of the house and sat on the mat and opened my tin of 甘い corn. I like 甘い corn. I was pretty messy when I'd finished, but I wiped my 手渡すs on the mat and lit my old 麻薬を吸う. If I had to choose between my family and my 麻薬を吸う, I'd keep my 麻薬を吸う. Of course, I'll 収容する／認める that if I had to choose between a boil on the neck and my family, I'd prefer the boil, but what I mean to say is that a man can get a family anywhere, but a good 麻薬を吸う is irreplaceable. I was at peace with the world.

Lying on the veranda with my 長，率いる on the doorstep, I watched the glow in my 麻薬を吸う darken and brighten as I puffed. It （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域 like a human heart.

I love my 麻薬を吸う.

A cricket chirped in the little （土地などの）細長い一片 of grass that our landlord calls a lawn. A pianola tinkled somewhere far enough away to make it sound like music, and for once there was no one gaping out the window of the house opposite.

Quietness and peace. Peace and quietness. It seemed too good to be true. It seemed as if it couldn't last. It didn't.

Stanley 丸天井d over the 盗品故買者, and I thought of poor Adam looking 支援する on the angel with the 炎上ing sword.

"How many times have I 警告するd you about jumping over the 盗品故買者 and trampling the grass?" I remonstrated.

"Oh, hullo, dad! Didn't notice you there. I was too tired to open the gate. I've had a hard day."

"丸天井ing a 盗品故買者 because you are too tired to open the gate is a variety of perverted laziness I cannot hope to understand."

I rolled over on my 味方する and knocked the ashes out of my 麻薬を吸う. "You're incurably lazy," I said.

"I suppose so, father," he agreed.

For the first time, I noticed that he was 覆う？ in a short leather coat, leggings, gauntlets, riding-breeches and goggles.

"Where's your 衝突，墜落 helmet and パラシュート（で降下する）?" I asked.

"All good riders dress like this," he answered huffily.

I stood up and looked up and 負かす／撃墜する the street.

"Where's your モーター-cycle?" I 問い合わせd.

"In a garage," he answered glumly. "It wasn't insured either."

"What's wrong with it?"

"Come inside and I'll tell you about it," he said.

I followed him into the house, wondering.

"We'll sit in the hallway, dad; it's too dirty in the kitchen."

I spread myself out on the 床に打ち倒す, refilled my 麻薬を吸う, and 用意が出来ている for the worst.

"You remember when I left here this afternoon to get something to eat?"

I nodded.

"井戸／弁護士席, I met Maureen up the street—"

"Eggs!"

"Yes. She was coming 負かす／撃墜する to see you—手配中の，お尋ね者 to tell you something. Don't interrupt me. I'll tell you everything if you give me a fair go. I asked her if she'd care for a ride and she said she would, so I （機の）カム 支援する here and got the bike and 直す／買収する，八百長をするd the 味方する-car on—you were out somewhere—and she got in, and away we went. Gimme a match."

I 手渡すd him a box and waited while he lit a cigar the size of a carrot.

"井戸／弁護士席," he continued, "we got 負かす／撃墜する town and Maureen saw some silk stockings she 手配中の，お尋ね者 for a sick friend, so I bought them and a few more things, and then some more things for herself—"

"You poor, abysmal, protoplasmic 襲う，襲って強奪する!"

"If you're going to interrupt—"

"Go on. After that, I'm speechless."

"We were waiting for the traffic 警官，（賞などを）獲得する's arm to get tired just there 近づく the 地位，任命する Office, when—whom do you think I saw?"

"Dunno," I said.

"Have a guess," he entreated.

I wrinkled my brows in thought.

"You'll never guess it," he 麻薬を吸うd gleefully.

"井戸／弁護士席, what the hell's the use of me guessing!" I snapped.

"I'll tell you. It was Oscar Winthrop with Estelle!"

"Who's Oscar Winthrop?"

"You don't know Oscar Winthrop! He's the prawn who took Estelle away from me, with his rotten motorbike!"

"Oh! Go on."

"Of course, as soon as I saw him, I just said, 'All 権利, you—'"

"Now! Now!"

"井戸／弁護士席, the traffic 警官，（賞などを）獲得する forgot, and scratched his ear and about two hundred of us got across before he knew it. Then I told Maureen to hang on to her 小包s, and went after Winthrop. I caught them in Macquarie Street. Oscar's got a broken 脚 and concussion. Estelle is not 傷つける much, it's just shock. Eggs was 扱う／治療するd for abrasions and 許すd to go home. It happened 権利 outside the hospital. Wasn't that lucky for them!"

"My word, it was!" I gasped. "What did Maureen say?"

"She couldn't talk much. I don't think she said anything."

"Were there any police about?"

"Droves of them."

"Take your 指名する and 演説（する）／住所?"

"Yes, but of course I didn't tell them everything やめる 正確に／まさに."

"That's all 権利, you fool, but what about the number on your cycle! They'll find out everything from that, and then where will you be?"

"Oh, I 直す／買収する，八百長をするd that," he said, waving his cigar, "I just stood next to what was left of Oscar's bike and told the police that I'd take care of Oscar's bike for him and leave 地雷 in the gutter because it was a total 難破させる. Of course, they took the number of Oscar's bike, thinking it was 地雷, and I took my own bike away-and-I dunno—"

He scratched his 長，率いる and looked puzzled.

"I know I tricked someone."

"Didn't they take the number of both bikes?"

"Yes-no. Oh. I dunno! I took the number-plate off my bike when I got it to the garage, but I think someone saw me throw it away."

I tapped him on the 膝.

"The best thing you can do is to grow a 耐えるd and 密輸する away to South America and get 発射 in a 革命," I said 厳粛に.

He rose to his feet and flung his cigar into the gramophone.

"Ah, 井戸／弁護士席. I 破産した／（警察が）手入れするd him, anyhow," he said, cheerfully.

The telephone bell rang as I was 緊急発進するing to my feet.

"The telephone!" we gasped.

"You answer it," I said.

"You answer it."

"Answer that telephone!" I ordered 厳しく.

"Aw, dad. You answer it. Go on. You can disguise your 発言する／表明する, or something. Go on, dad!"

"Why boy, I believe you're 脅すd!" I scoffed.

"I'm not. I answered it for you this morning. Listen to it （犯罪の）一味ing!"

I walked to the phone and took the receiver off.

"Yeth," I said, "vat ith it?"

"I'd like to speak to Stanley Gudgeon, please," answered a 発言する／表明する.

It was Maureen. I put my を引き渡す the transmitter and beckoned to Stanley. "It's Eggs," I said.

"I'm not in," he whispered hoarsely.

"'Ullo? Misther Thtanley Gudgeon ith out. Ith there any methage?"

"Is Mister Jack Gudgeon there?" 問い合わせd the 発言する／表明する.

"Oh, no. Oh. my vord, no. He'th gone for good. To Meckthico."

"Do You know where Stanley is?"

"Vell, I'm not thure, but I think he'th up on the roof; that'th vere I last theen 'im."

"Is someone spraying your roof with kittens?"

Her 発言する／表明する nearly scorched my ear off.

"Madame!" I replied, in a dignified 発言する／表明する, "I refuthe to 'old any その上の converthation vith you."

I put the receiver 支援する with a click.

"What did she say?" gasped Stanley.

I patted him on the shoulder reassuringly.

"Never mind, boy, your father will 保護する you," I said affectionately, and walked thoughtfully into the kitchen.

"What is she going to do?" he asked, に引き続いて me. "What did she say?"

I shook my 長，率いる 厳粛に and sat 負かす／撃墜する. "One-攻撃する，衝突する Mulligan, eh?"

"The 支持する／優勝者 heavyweight? What's he got to do with it?"

"He's her brother," I murmured in a 発言する／表明する 十分な of sympathy.

"Of course," I mused, "it might all blow over but—" I paused and shook my 長，率いる. "Thousand 続けざまに猛撃するs 損害賠償金!" I continued. "It seems a lot of money to （人命などを）奪う，主張する for a little thing like that. I suppose you 港／避難所't got a thousand 続けざまに猛撃するs, Stanley?"

"I've got a thousand uses for a 続けざまに猛撃する."

"It means 刑務所，拘置所!" I moaned.

"What for?" 需要・要求するd Stanley.

"犯罪の 強襲，強姦 with 意図 to 殺人, wilfully 損失ing 所有物／資産／財産, 誤った pretences, 強盗, 放火（罪）, barratry—anything. And then there's her brother. You're in a terrible 直す／買収する，八百長をする."

Stanley sat 負かす／撃墜する and 星／主役にするd at me grimly.

"Of course, you're not," he scoffed. "Do you know what Maureen told me? Do you know what she 手配中の，お尋ね者 to see you for?"

I shook my 長，率いる and he pointed his finger at me menacingly, like the man in the correspondence college 宣伝s.

"She told me that Woggo Slatter was Daisy's husband. He's looking for you and—stop me if you've heard this—he killed two men in Melbourne last year for sending Christmas cards to Daisy. The police are 脅すd of him. He's after you!"

He dropped his 発言する／表明する to a 厳しい whisper and leaned across the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する. "And he gets his man!" he whispered.

"Does he carry a gun?" I 問い合わせd hoarsely.

"No."

I smiled.

"He doesn't need one. He garrottes them!" whispered Stanley. His 注目する，もくろむs were bulging with excitement.

I wiped the perspiration from my 直面する.

"You can't 脅す me," I told him.

"And you can't 脅す me," he 宣言するd emphatically.

"I don't know what 恐れる is," I 主張するd.

"It's never too late to learn," he 引用するd, rising from the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する.

I was rummaging in my mind for a 破滅的な retort to put an end to this bickering when something happened which did more to Stanley than anything I could have thought of. Someone knocked at the 前線 door. My 手渡す, on its way toward an itchy ear, paused half-way and remained motionless. Stanley, with his 支援する に向かって me, 強化するd like a pointer. Slowly he turned his 長，率いる and looked at me.

"The door!" he whispered. "A knock."

"井戸／弁護士席!" I said, "answer it."

"You answer it," he pleaded.

I rose, and pulling the ice-chest away from the 塀で囲む, crouched behind it. The door-bell rang like a 召喚するs to the operating-theatre.

"Go to that confounded door," I whispered. "I'm not in."

"Neither am I," he replied, and bounded softly into the 不明瞭 of the laundry. I drew myself up to my 十分な 高さ behind the ice-chest.

"Come out of that, you coward!" I called softly.

The door-bell rang again.

"Go on, dad," 勧めるd Stanley. "You're not 脅すd, are you?"

"Did you ever see your father 脅すd?" I 需要・要求するd.

"Never, dad."

"Did I not tell you that I don't know what 恐れる is?"

"You did, father. It makes me proud to think that I am your son—of the same 血."

I stepped out from behind the ice-chest.

"手渡す me the axe," I ordered 厳しく.

The 扱う of the axe poked out from the 不明瞭 and I しっかり掴むd it.

The 血 of the Gudgeons 殺到するd within me.

"Stay there, you 白人指導者べったりの東洋人-spined dingo. I shall return presently."

"I hope so, father. I hope so," whispered Stanley.

I crept out of the kitchen and up the hallway. Groping my way into my own room which is in the very 前線 of the house, I peered out the window. A girl of about seventeen was in the 行為／法令／行動する of 圧力（をかける）ing the bell-button. I felt my way out of the room and strode 支援する to the kitchen.

"Stanley," I said, 投げつけるing the axe into the laundry, "you may have this."

"Have you killed him, father?" gasped Stanley, peering around the doorway.

"No, not yet. When I do kill him, I shall kill him with my naked 手渡すs. I am a Gudgeon."

I turned and strode up the hall.

"Oh—er—hullo!" said the girl, as I flung the door open.

"What do you want here, One-攻撃する，衝突する Mulligan?" I 需要・要求するd, loudly.

"I—I'm not Mulligan," gasped the girl, "I'm Estelle Jones."

"Estelle?—Estelle?"

She nodded brightly.

For a moment I was puzzled, and then I understood. This was Oyster-mouth. Stanley's erstwhile love.

"Stanley!" I shouted. "Your bicycle 事故 is here."

"I'm not in," （機の）カム a smothered 発言する／表明する.

"It's me, Stan! Estelle," yelled the girl.

"You'd better come in," I said gently.

I の近くにd the door behind her and guided her up the hall.

Stanley was in the kitchen, standing with 武器 outstretched.

"My de—ar!" he cried.

"Oh, Stan!" she murmured, and ぱたぱたするd into his 武器.

I smirked contemptuously at Stanley as he 動議d me to get out.

"井戸／弁護士席?" I drawled.

Stanley （機の）カム out of his clinch as the girl looked around.

"This," he said, with what seemed to me an unnecessary 強調 on the "this." "This is my father."

He flopped a careless 手渡す in my direction. The girl smiled at me, and turned to Stanley.

"I see where you get your good looks from," she simpered, and taking both of his 手渡すs in hers, stood 支援する and gazed at him.

"Oh, Stanley," she cried, "you beautiful, ruthless brute!"

She kissed him.

I walked out.

Fathers don't count these days. It's hard. Things were different when I was a boy. I remember the time when my father was the 長，率いる of the house. My mother used to ask him what he'd like for dinner! What he said was it. No argument. I obeyed him and went to him for advice. Those were the days when fathers were fathers. Nowadays, a father is nothing more than a family 支払う／賃金-cart. When he does break out and 捜し出す to make himself heard, the family 単に shrugs its shoulders and murmurs, "What's bitten the old geezer?" If the son of the house brings a girl friend home, father is sent off to bed. He goes to the barber's shop to find himself done out of his turn by his daughter. The only place where the 長，率いる of the house can 空気／公表する his opinions is in the 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業-room. Even there the prohibitionists frown on him. There せねばならない be a Discarded Fathers' Union.

I went to bed, and they turned the light out in the kitchen.

CHAPTER XIII

Stanley （機の）カム to me in the morning with the news that there was a breakfast loose in the house. He was in a remarkably good mood and 知らせるd me that the bath was cleaned out so that I could have a real bath instead of a 一連の ablutionary contortions in the wash-tubs. He went away whistling and he was still at it when I （機の）カム 負かす／撃墜する from my bath to the kitchen.

"Stop that 爆破d whistling!" I exclaimed.

I never feel much good before breakfast.

"Righto, dad," he said cheerfully, and stopped it.

注目する，もくろむing him suspiciously I sat 負かす／撃墜する to the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, which was laid out as though for human 存在s.

"What's for breakfast?" I asked. "If there's any more of those damned sardines and baked beans, I don't want to see them."

For days I had been 手渡すd a tin of beans, a tin of sardines, and a can-opener for breakfast.

"Chops, fried tomatoes and chipped potatoes," said Stanley. "Will you have porridge?"

"Don't joke, boy. I can't stand it. Bring out the b—beans."

He 始める，決める a plate of porridge 負かす／撃墜する before me and I 星／主役にするd at him.

"Is it true!" I exclaimed. "All this chop and tomato stuff—is it fair dinkum?"

"It is," he replied. "Splash 一連の会議、交渉／完成する with that porridge or the 残り／休憩（する） will go 冷淡な."

He sat and watched me, beaming. I finished the porridge in a daze and he 素早い行動d the plate away and 取って代わるd it with another. On it, two noble chops, done to a turn, supported an 議会 of little slices of fried potato. Fried tomatoes furnished the background. No poet has ever written a sonnet to fried tomatoes. And yet they are supposed to be able to discern beauty and 逮捕（する） 見通しs. I 注目する，もくろむd Stanley mutely.

"Estelle," he chuckled proudly. "She done it."

"Did it," I 修正するd dreamily and took up my knife and fork. The 十分な 現実化 of the thing struck me as I tasted the chop.

"Estelle!" I exclaimed. "She done it?"

"Did it," he replied gently. "（機の）カム in this morning and did it. She cleaned the bath out. She's coming 支援する afterwards to wash the dishes and tidy things up a bit."

"What a girl!" I whispered. "She knows her tomatoes."

"井戸／弁護士席, I'll leave you to it," he said, strolling to the door, "I want to talk to you when you've finished, dad."

I wondered ばく然と what he 手配中の，お尋ね者 to talk about, but my mind and soul went on with the breakfast and my mental 見通し was obscured by chops. When at last I had finished the meal and was breathing 定期的に once more, I put my feet up on the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, lit a cigar and, with 議長，司会を務める 攻撃するd 支援する, 調査するd the 天井 with a kindly 注目する，もくろむ. Sticklers for etiquette might 見解（をとる） this after-breakfast 態度 with disfavour, but if a man can't put his own feet up on his own （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する in his own house, where can he do it? Agatha once read to me a newspaper article which told of an explorer who shaved 定期的に and dressed for dinner in the heart of the ジャングル. I picture this 条約-haunted empire-建設業者 doffing his sun-helmet to 女性（の） 粗野な人間s, 狙撃s wart-hogs in their order of social 優先, and drinking his own health in a glass of quinine. True, politeness costs nothing, but then, taking into account the 法律s of 供給（する） and 需要・要求する, anything so plentiful as to be given away without cost must 自然に be ありふれた; or to use another word, vulgar. I abhor vulgarity.

These are my own opinions, of course, the 結論s, of a 円熟した mind, but I have brought Stanley up in strict 一致 with all the 支配するs of, good society. It is not so very long ago since I chastised him at the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する for flipping pieces of butter at my guests from the end of his knife. It was a sheer waste of butter and he was a rotten 発射, anyhow. Having brought Stanley up on strict lines, as I have said, I was not surprised when he entered the kitchen and kicked my feet off the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する as a 調印する of his 不賛成. I sat up and he seated himself opposite me.

"井戸／弁護士席," he 開始するd, "what do you think of Estelle's cooking?"

I had to 収容する／認める that I could not have done better myself.

"She'll be doing most of the cooking now," he said.

"She'll do anything for me."

"After what you did to her!" I exclaimed.

"Yes," he said smugly. "I've a way with women. I know how to 扱う／治療する 'em. That's all she 手配中の，お尋ね者—a good belt in the 支援する with a モーター-bike. Pity I never thought of it before."

"Do you mean to say—" I began.

"正確に／まさに," he interrupted. "She's eating out of my 手渡す. She can see now that I am hard and 決定するd and strong and ruthless. What I want, I take."

"That's all 権利 in the 砂漠," I said, "but we work things 異なって in this city. And besides, taking what you want is 平易な compared with getting rid of what you don't want. Any fool can collect a harem, but it takes something more than a （イスラム圏での）首長 to 解散する it and stay 肉体的に and financially whole."

He smiled complacently.

"She is going to square things with Oscar Winthrop, so there will be no trouble from him," he continued. "She begged me to 許す her to come here and make the place comfortable for me, and after thinking it over, I decided to 許す her."

I shook my 長，率いる sadly. "What a pity you never had a モーター-cycle when your mother was here," I murmured.

"Oh, yes," he drawled, "but I don't think the bike would stand it; and then of course, you've got to understand women. You've got to know how to—"

The whirr of the door-bell interrupted him.

"That's Estelle!" he cried, and leapt from his 議長，司会を務める. He had taken two strides when he stopped and returned to his seat. "I'll let her wait for a while," he said.

I rose to my feet and made for the door.

"Sit 負かす／撃墜する!" he hissed. "I'm 扱うing this 事例／患者."

I returned to my 議長，司会を務める and waited. We are never too old to learn.

The door-bell had rung three times before he strolled to the door and let the girl in.

"Hello, little one," he drawled. "How are we this morning?"

"Oh, Stanley—"

"Hush! I am not in a listening mood this morning. Go through into the kitchen."

She entered the kitchen and 迎える／歓迎するd me. She was rather a nice looking kid. About seventeen, perhaps, with auburn hair and a few freckles, which doubtless kept her awake at night and anguished all day. She was evidently at that romantic age when she could invent a blighted life for the milkman and a 悲劇の past for the grocer's assistant, but にもかかわらず I gave Stanley two days in which to change his programme or lose his licence as a 洞穴-man.

I talked with her in a 肉親，親類d, fatherly way for a while, but it was 明白に a 緊張する for her to talk without dancing, and she gave a little sigh of 救済 when Stanley entered the room with a 激しい masterful tread.

"The telephone's （犯罪の）一味ing," he 発表するd.

"Answer it, then," I said.

"You know, father, I have taken a 公約する never to use a phone again," he exclaimed, 倍のing his 武器.

I turned to Estelle.

"Will you answer the phone, my dear?" I asked.

She rose obligingly and we followed and （人が）群がるd 一連の会議、交渉／完成する her as she put the receiver to her ear.

"Hello," she yodelled, and listened.

Stanley took the receiver from her 手渡す.

"Who is it?" he hissed.

"It sounds like a woman," she said, 星／主役にするing at him.

"Eggs!" gasped Stanley.

"Steak!" I whispered.

Stanley 手渡すd the receiver 支援する to the girl.

"Tell her," he 教えるd hurriedly, "tell her it's Mrs Gudgeon speaking."

He smiled at me and I smiled 支援する and winked.

"Hello," said Estelle, "Mrs Gudgeon speaking. Yes; Mrs Gudgeon. G-U-D-G-E-O-N. All 権利. Just a moment."

She turned to Stanley and 申し込む／申し出d him the receiver.

"Stanley," she said. "Your mother wants to speak to you."

"宗教上の Moses!" I gasped, and staggered to a 議長，司会を務める.

"Hullo!" cried Stanley shakily. "Hullo! Hullo! Hullo!"

"削減（する） off," he whispered, and taking Estelle's 手渡す, he gazed at me fearfully and then 急ぐd for the door as I leapt to my feet.

"Come here, you blighter!" I shouted.

The door slammed and I was left alone.

CHAPTER XIV

Oh, what a 絡まるd web we weave when first we practise to deceive! The seed had been sown and two 私立探偵s would now grow where only one grew before. I would be dogged, and my lightest word would be taken 負かす／撃墜する in 令状ing and used in 証拠 against me. And heaven knew what they might dig up. I have led a blameless life, never having been 設立する out yet—that is to say, in anything serious—but with a horde of paid jackals burrowing into my past—! Thinking of what they might discover made me shudder. Already I saw the headlines: "Gallivanting Gudgeon Goes Gay"—and the 別居手当，扶養料! Surely it is a strange 法律 that, not content with 奪うing a man of his 評判 and his honour, must needs go さらに先に and make 需要・要求するs on his pocket.

Stanley had done it again, this time in 共同 with Oyster-mouth.

I wandered wearily toward the door, checked myself in the 行為／法令／行動する of 開始 it and peered through the window-blind. A pale thin man, stood on the opposite 味方する of the road, gazing across at the house. He had the 直面する of a Judas who had only received twenty-eight pieces of silver, and the 表現 of a 反抗的な rabbit. A born slinker. I made my way through the house to the 支援する gate. As I opened it, a low soft whistle （機の）カム from the corner of the street and another bloodsucker slunk out of sight. Evidently Agatha was sparing no expense. I 悪口を言う／悪態d gently to myself and 緊急発進するd over the 盗品故買者 into the yard of the 隣接するing house and crept stealthily up the 味方する passage. Peering around the corner of the 塀で囲む I saw that Rabbit-直面する had gone and I let myself out the gate and hurried up the street to Flannery's. I had not been there five minutes when Flannery, to whom I had unbosomed myself, 軽く押す／注意を引くd me slyly with his 握りこぶし and nodded toward the other end of the 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業. The money-changers had got into the 寺. It was Rabbit-直面する. I looked away quickly but it was too late and I 調印するd to Flannery to pass me a 激しい 瓶／封じ込める as the fellow （機の）カム に向かって me.

"Mr Gudgeon, I believe?" he 問い合わせd with 解除するd eyebrows.

"At your service," I answered, taking the 瓶／封じ込める from Flannery.

"代表するing the 平易な 支払い（額） and 世帯 利益 Co.," he said, taking a sheaf of papers from his pocket. "You bought a gramophone from us, Mr Gudgeon, in—let me see—1927. We have been trying to get in touch with you in regard to—"

"How much is it?" I asked, putting 支援する the 瓶／封じ込める.

"Seven 続けざまに猛撃するs, fifteen shillings, Mr Gudgeon. You understand—"

"Here," I said, 持つ／拘留するing out a handful of 公式文書，認めるs, "sort it out of that. Why didn't you ask me before? Have a drink?"

His mouth worked and he mumbled かなり before he could speak. "Good gracious, Mr Gudgeon!" he cried. "I don't drink as a 支配する, but really—Yes, I will have a drink."

"Think he's all 権利?" whispered Flannery from the corner of his mouth.

I nodded as the man 手渡すd me the 領収書.

For one who did not usually drink, his technique was good. He was in a hurry to go at first but after a while seemed to settle 負かす／撃墜する and when Sadie （機の）カム into the 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業 I introduced him and left him to his 運命／宿命. Although Flannery was still distrustful of the man, I felt almost 確かな that I had made a mistake, and though keeping a sharp look-out for 探偵，刑事s on my way 支援する home, I felt いっそう少なく inclined to 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑う casual loiterers. Although I was やめる 権利 in 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑うing casual loiterers. A man who loiters is 正確に，正当に 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑うd by any civilized community. He is up to no good. Policemen move him on, 運転者s run over him, pavement salesmen 示す him 負かす／撃墜する as a 犠牲者 and matrons with daughters 星／主役にする coldly at him. In the 注目する，もくろむs of the perambulating populace his grade is low, but I am a 幅の広い-minded man and can admire and 尊敬（する）・点 one who has the hardihood to stand still in the street and その為に 危険 his life, his pocket-money, his social status and the attention of some ambitious probationary constable.

I entered the house with a light heart and a 瓶／封じ込める of rum beneath my vest and 上がるd the stairs to Stanley's room. As I 推定する／予想するd, the bed was made and the room swept and tidied. Estelle had seen to the 慰安 of Abdul Stanley and I laid myself 負かす／撃墜する with a sigh of contentment.

To the habit of lying 負かす／撃墜する whenever the 適切な時期 申し込む／申し出s, I せいにする the 保護 of my youthful 外見 and it is my belief that if more men lay 負かす／撃墜する and 残り／休憩（する）d in their spare time, there would be より小数の 逮捕（する）s, 離婚s, 破産s, 自殺s and marriages. The rum was not a restful rum. It was Australian rum. The sort of rum that 嵐／襲撃するd the 高さs of Gallipoli, and makes Australia a nation of singers. It was therefore with something like satisfaction that I heard the 捨てるing of boots on the roof すぐに above the room and perceived a 脚 hanging from the guttering above the window. With the alertness of mind which is characteristic of the Gudgeons, I slipped beneath the bed and を待つd the 侵入者. A loud creaking of springs 発表するd that he had 緊急発進するd through the window and stepped on the bed with both feet. I watched his rubber-単独のd shoes slink silently from the room and make toward the bath-room. 慎重に I crept from beneath the bed and followed him on my 手渡すs and 膝s. Arriving at the bath-room, I peered through a chink in the doorway and saw him crouched beside the wash-水盤／入り江 星／主役にするing intently at the 塀で囲む, as though listening. Slowly and gently I rose to my feet. He heard me, ちらりと見ることd around nervously, and whipping a spanner from his pocket, 開始するd to unscrew the water-麻薬を吸う. It was no time for hesitation. I flung the door open and leapt on to his 支援する. He gave a startled grunt and spread out on the 床に打ち倒す. I しっかり掴むd the spanner he had dropped and rapped him はっきりと behind the ear.

"'Ere!" he exclaimed feebly.

"Move an インチ and I'll 緩和する your nut with this spanner," I muttered 厳しく.

It has always been my opinion that if a thing is 価値（がある） doing, it's 価値（がある） doing with trimmings.

"Jes wait till I get up," he spluttered threateningly, and I passed him a blow behind the other ear.

"You bungling home wrecker!" I exclaimed savagely.

He 中止するd struggling and rolled one 注目する，もくろむ at me. I was 持つ／拘留するing the other against the 床に打ち倒す.

"That's what they all say," he said 激しく. "Bunglers! Home wreckers! It's enough to make a man give up the game. Lore knows it's a dirty, thankless 職業."

I seated myself more 堅固に on his 支援する.

"Any man born of woman, who so far forgets his 遺産 as a vertebrate animal as to become a 離婚 探偵，刑事, deserves to be herded with 動揺させる-snakes," I growled.

He 新たな展開d his 長，率いる around till both 注目する，もくろむs 星／主役にするd at me.

"I'm not a 探偵，刑事!" he yelled. "I'm the plumber!"

I laughed 激しく and dealt him another one with the spanner.

"A plumber!" I jeered, "and you （機の）カム straight into the bathroom and started work すぐに. Do you think I don't know anything about plumbers?"

"But I can 証明する it!" he cried, "I've got all my 道具s with me."

The man sickened me.

"Don't make it worse," I said contemptuously. "Who ever heard of a plumber with all his 道具s with him? Do you think I'm a fool?"

"I tell you, I am a plumber!" he shouted. "I've just been mending the roof."

"Oh, and who told you to come into my bath-room?"

"Nobody. I just thought I'd make sure that everything was in good order—"

"That's enough," I 削減（する） in. "A conscientious plumber! Ha! Ha!"

Still chuckling, I 除去するd his belt and bound his wrists behind his 支援する, gave him a parting blow with the spanner and stepped quickly out the door and locked it.

"Hey! You—"

I did not wait to hear what he had to say. Whatever he said, it left a brown, burnt-looking stain on the 天井 of the bath-room which has never been 除去するd since. I descended the stairs to my own room, 井戸／弁護士席 pleased with myself. I had no 計画（する） as yet for 配置する／処分する／したい気持ちにさせるing of the 団体／死体 in the bath-room but felt that there was no 即座の hurry as he was securely locked in, and 供給するd the door withstood his poundings, could be kept locked in till hunger 弱めるd him.

I pottered idly about the room, humming a tune and wondering where Stanley was. かもしれない he had pitched his テント on another part of the 砂漠 and did not ーするつもりである to return. The prospect of his absence did not perturb me. I ちらりと見ることd casually out the window—casually for a moment, and then 星／主役にするd in amazement.

Woggo Slatter was strolling slowly 負かす／撃墜する the street, gazing at the house numbers. There sprang to my mind the words of Stanley: "He garrottes 'em," and I flung open the wardrobe door, 緊急発進するd in, and pulled the door to.

I was not afraid. I 簡単に did not wish to see Slatter. He was not the sort of man I like to entertain and I 持つ／拘留する it as a British 支配する's birthright that I should be 許すd to choose my 知識s and 規制する my own visiting 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる）. To put it in the social jargon, I was 単に not at home to Slatter.

A loud and 長引かせるd （犯罪の）一味ing of the door-bell 布告するd that he had 設立する the 権利 number. I breathed gently. Upstairs, the bath-room shuddered with blows and shouts. Slatter was impatient. He kicked the door with his feet, 圧力（をかける）d the bell-button, knocked with his 握りこぶし and shouted, "Hoi! Gudgeon!"

The 空気／公表する was 厚い in the wardrobe and redolent of moth-balls and lavender, but I plugged the keyhole with the corner of my handkerchief. I hate noise.

"Hoi!" bellowed Slatter.

"Open this door!" shrieked the bath-room occupant.

I leave out the さまざまな 貿易（する） 専門的事項s with which he embellished his 需要・要求する. The telephone bell was （犯罪の）一味ing loudly and insistently, the window-sashes 動揺させるd, and ばく然と and disconnectedly I thought of the trump of Gabriel and the sea giving up its dead. As though by some prearranged signal, the noise suddenly 中止するd. So still was it in the wardrobe that I could hear the moths rolling the moth-balls out of the way to get at the 着せる／賦与するs. Then the window-pane 動揺させるd as someone tapped it.

"Anyone in?" cried a 発言する／表明する that sounded familiar yet strange.

"'Sno good, Simp," （機の）カム Slatter's 発言する／表明する, "'e must be out. We'll get 'im later. Commorn."

It seemed that Slatter had the drunken Simpson with him. I listened as the gate clacked shut, and opened the door gently to hear their 出発／死ing footsteps. Gingerly I 緊急発進するd out of the wardrobe and stretched myself. The 囚人 upstairs had become silent. The house, after all the 最近の noise, seemed as 静かな as some wooded grove, and after a 予選 peep through the window-blinds, I opened the 前線 door わずかに and peered out. Women in all 行う／開催する／段階s of house-きれいにする DESHABILLE craned from every window in the opposite terrace. Carelessly they 危険d their lives leaning over balconies to gaze up the street after the disappearing forms of Slatter and Simpson. I shut the door 静かに and went into my bedroom and lay 負かす／撃墜する. The にわか雨 in the bath-room was running and the plumber was 静かな. かもしれない he was making the best of things and having a bath. I had begun to 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑う that the man really was a plumber.

For some hours I dozed and it was late in the afternoon when I suddenly started to my feet with a sound of 衝突，墜落ing and yelling （犯罪の）一味ing in my ears. It was the plumber, very 真面目に trying to get out of his 独房, and I rose and went to see if the bath-room was still 損なわれていない. I knocked at the door.

"Are you there?" I asked gently.

"Where the 炎s do you think I'd be?" shrieked the hoarse 発言する／表明する. The man seemed to be irritable.

"All 権利. All 権利," I said. "I only 手配中の，お尋ね者 to know. Your manners are rotten."

"What are you going to do now?" he 需要・要求するd querulously.

"Oh, I'll think of something presently," I 保証するd him. "Just plumb around for a while and amuse yourself."

He started to stamp his feet and 詠唱する loudly, so I left him. He had asked me what I ーするつもりであるd to do with him, and thinking it over I had to 自白する to myself that I had no idea what to do with him. I have made it a 支配する never to worry about trifling 事柄s so I forgot him for the time 存在. The telephone was （犯罪の）一味ing as I （機の）カム 負かす／撃墜する the stairs and as I failed to see how it could 原因（となる） any more trouble than it had already done, I answered it.

"Woollahra, 4381," I answered in a snappy, 事務的な manner.

"Is that you, Stanley?" answered Agatha's 発言する／表明する.

I 解除するd my 発言する／表明する an octave.

"Yes, ma."

I held the receiver tightly with both 手渡すs and leaned against the 塀で囲む as the diaphragm quivered to the 爆破. The poet who 手配中の，お尋ね者 to see himself as others saw him, never had a wild woman talk to him on the telephone. She 弱めるd at last.

"Are you still there?" she 需要・要求するd.

I nodded and then, remembering where I was, answered, "Yes."

"井戸／弁護士席 then, don't you forget," she snapped. "Your aunt and I will be around at eleven o'clock to-night. Leave the door 打ち明けるd. We will have 証言，証人／目撃するs with us and I'll make it my 商売／仕事 to find out what that—what your father is doing with hussies in the house. Don't forget. Leave the door 打ち明けるd. Do you hear me?"

I 取って代わるd the receiver. I had heard enough.

Wearily I turned from the phone, to see Stanley's 長，率いる poked around the half-opened 前線 door. He ducked 支援する quickly as I looked.

"It's all 権利," I called, "come in."

He entered warily.

"How was I to know—" he 開始するd.

I silenced him with a 動議 of my 手渡す.

"It's all 権利. Where's Estelle?"

"Didn't she come 支援する here?" he asked in a surprised トン.

My brain worked 速く.

"Perhaps she did and perhaps she didn't," I replied smiling.

"Come on now, dad; where is she?" he asked playfully.

"I didn't say she was here, did I?"

"No, but I know you're hiding her somewhere. Out with it, dad."

I beckoned him to come closer and he （機の）カム very slowly and 慎重に. It was evident that he was not too sure how he stood with me. I caught him by the arm and whispered in his ear.

"There might be a surprise for you in the bath-room, but I don't think you should go up there, my boy."

He winked and made for the stairs, chuckling.

"Mind you," I called after him, "I only said there might be. Just peep in."

He bounded up the stairs and I はうd under the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する and 速く pulled the 議長，司会を務めるs in の近くに. I heard him fumbling with the lock. "Did oo finkums could hide from me?" he cooed.

Whatever else he was going to say was 溺死するd in a wild shout of 激怒（する） and 勝利 as the plumber leapt on him. For a few minutes the house shuddered. Stanley 叫び声をあげるd like a 脅すd horse, and the 空気／公表する quivered with the 戦う／戦い-cry of the Amalgamated Plumbers' Union. I tried to 似ている the pattern of the linoleum as much as possible as the noise 沈下するd. The plumber clumped ひどく 負かす／撃墜する the stairs, paused in the hallway 匂いをかぐing like a prowling puma and then trudged out of the house. Several ornaments fell off the mantlepiece as he slammed the door. はうing from beneath the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, I tiptoed to the foot of the stairs and called softly:

"Are you there, Stanley?"

A moan answered me.

Alarmed, I dashed up the stairs. He was lying on the 床に打ち倒す, mumbling to himself; 説 the same words over and over again. He repeated them loudly as I bent over him. The modern 青年 has no 尊敬（する）・点 at all for his father. Stanley's 傷害s were slight but 井戸／弁護士席 分配するd. Time and 包帯s would easily stale their infinite variety.

"井戸／弁護士席," I said sadly, "you've been getting yourself into trouble again."

The breath whistled through his nostrils as he looked up at me. I stepped 支援する a pace and しっかり掴むd the stair-rail.

"Why you should 強襲，強姦 a 害のない plumber who was 単に doing his 義務, goodness only knows," I continued. "You certainly 似ている your mother's 味方する of the family in your sheer wilful malice. Your outrageous temper will get you into serious trouble one of these days."

More in 悲しみ than in 怒り／怒る I descended the stairs while he lurched to his feet and tottered into his room. At the foot of the stairs, I sat on the 底（に届く） step and thought.

Things were getting mixed.

CHAPTER XV

The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune were descending on me in matted clumps. I was hemmed in with things happening and things about to happen, and peace of mind was as far off as a 削減 in the 海軍の 見積（る）s. I am a strong man and have borne many 悲しみs and 苦しむd under dreary 重荷（を負わせる）s, but I must 収容する／認める that now and then, I feel as if I'd like to 嘘（をつく） 負かす／撃墜する and be bedridden. Just to look out a window at nothing, to be turned over and washed, to have my 気温 taken from me and my meals brought to me. To be like the three wise monkeys of the East; to see nothing, hear nothing, know nothing, and damn everything. But the indomitable spirit of the Gudgeons raises its 乱打するd 長，率いる and I carry on, 血まみれの but unbowed.

With my chin cupped in my 手渡すs, I disciplined my mind and laid out my troubles for 査察. It is 必須の to get a proper しっかり掴む of a problem before it can be dealt with.

Woggo Slatter was on my 追跡する. Eggs was after Stanley. Agatha and Gertrude would arrive with a ギャング（団） of 証言，証人／目撃するs at eleven o'clock that night. I had lost my 職業; this did not worry me much but I put it in with the 残り／休憩（する）, as a difficulty. Perhaps there was nothing much to worry about, but I had had only two decent meals since Agatha's 出発 and that in itself was an excuse for morbidity. I was 事実上 marooned in the house with Stanley as my man Friday and he was at that moment moaning on a bed of 苦痛 through his own foolhardiness. There was trouble between us. Now, when co-操作／手術 was needed more than ever before, there was a 不和 in the lute and the even tenor of our companionship had sunk to a rumbling basso. The only thing to be done was to go to Stanley, put the 事例／患者 before him and enlist him as an 同盟（する）.

It is characteristic of me that when I come to a 決定／判定勝ち（する）, I すぐに carry it out. さもなければ I'd forget it. I trudged up the stairs once more and entered Stanley's room. He was standing before the mirror 診察するing his 注目する，もくろむ and he turned with a low bestial growl and glared at me as I shut the door.

"Stanley," I said soothingly.

"Blah!" he exclaimed and flung himself 負かす／撃墜する on the bed.

I sat 負かす／撃墜する beside him and patted him on the shoulder.

"I know you're having hard luck, my boy," I said. "What with the モーター-cycle 事故 and now these 黒人／ボイコット 注目する，もくろむs and things, it's hard on you. 元気づける up, my son, I've got some bad news to tell you."

He grunted and looked curiously at me with the いっそう少なく swollen 注目する，もくろむ.

"I've been talking to someone on the phone," I continued.

"Maureen," he exclaimed. "Or was it only the police?"

I shook my 長，率いる 厳粛に.

"Eggs it was. She—I don't like to tell you this, son."

"Go on," he 勧めるd weakly.

"She 手配中の，お尋ね者 me to leave the 前線 door open."

"What for?" he asked in amazement.

"They're coming!" I whispered. "Droves of them. The two women, Maureen's brother—One-攻撃する，衝突する Mulligan, that is, and two or three more men in 事例／患者 you put up a fight."

"When?" he gasped, sitting up on the bed.

"Eleven o'clock."

"I'll go now!" he cried. "I'll leave before they come."

I caught him by the arm as he jumped to his feet.

"Don't you think they have foreseen such a probability?" I pointed out gently. "Don't you understand that they will be watching for you?"

He 低迷d 支援する on the bed and 星／主役にするd bleakly at me.

"You see the position you are in?"

He nodded dumbly.

"井戸／弁護士席 then," I cried, slapping him on the 支援する, "信用 to your old father to get you out of it!"

"Hmph!" he grunted.

Silence fell between us.

"To think," he broke out at last, "after all I've done for her! Took her for a ride in the 味方する-car, gave her money at the races, bought her silk stockings and a fur coat, paid for—"

"持つ／拘留する!" I interjected. "What's this about a fur coat? モーター-cycle—fur coat! How much did you 勝利，勝つ at the races?"

"Seven hundred and something," he answered carelessly. "I forget 正確に／まさに how much. And now," he went on, "she 雇うs a ギャング（団） to 包囲する me in my home!"

"分裂（する） infinitives!" I gasped. An 誓い which I use only when 絶対 astonished. A journalistic friend who subsequently and, of course, 必然的に died of 餓死 and アル中患者 毒（薬）ing, taught me it and I use it rarely. I was more than astonished, I was dumbfounded. That the boy should be so 隠しだてする about his winnings amazed and 苦痛d me. I 解決するd to teach him poker at the earliest 適切な時期.

"What are you looking at me like that for?" he 需要・要求するd irritably.

I bent over him.

"You and I must be friends, Stanley," I said in a 懐柔的な 発言する／表明する, "we must 連合させる to rebuff your enemies."

"What about your enemies?" he 匂いをかぐd suspiciously.

"I can 扱う them," I 保証するd him. "Now," I said, standing up, "the first thing to be done is to get something to eat. An army fights on its stomach."

"I don't want to fight on my stomach," he moaned.

"I speak figuratively," I explained. "Where is your mamorata."

"I think it's all 権利," he replied weakly. "Seems to be bruised," he 追加するd.

"Where is Estelle?" I snapped impatiently.

The door-bell rang.

"That'll be her," he exclaimed.

I left the room and went 負かす／撃墜する to let her in.

"Is Stanley all 権利?" she 問い合わせd fearfully, as I held the door open.

"No," I said 厳粛に. "He is very 不正に 負傷させるd and needs nourishing food 十分な for two. I'm glad you （機の）カム. Go up to him."

She skittered past me and up the stairs and I followed slowly. I paused at the door as the murmur of Stanley's 発言する／表明する （機の）カム to my ears:

"And then four more of them 急ぐd me," he was 説. "I clutched one by the neck and held him up for a 保護物，者 while I 乱打するd the other three 負かす／撃墜する with my 解放する／自由な 手渡す. Then all of a sudden—"

I coughed and walked in.

"Estelle," I said, "would you do something to help Stanley?"

"Oh, I'd do anything!" she trilled, regarding him with 向こうずねing 注目する，もくろむs.

"井戸／弁護士席, then, go and get about six 続けざまに猛撃するs of steak and potatoes and stuff, and cook it for him. If there is any left over when he has finished, I'll have a bite myself."

She ちらりと見ることd again at Stanley.

"Please," he pleaded with a 病弱な smile.

"You're lucky to have such a 肉親，親類d, thoughtful father."

Stanley writhed, coughed violently, and started to mutter.

"I'll go now," she said anxiously. "I won't be long."

"Better take the 重要な and let yourself in," I said. "I'll have to stay with poor Stanley."

She took it and hurried out of the room.

Stanley rolled off the bed and stood up, wincing.

"Eleven of them," he said meaningly. "Attacked me, they did. Eleven 不良，よた者s; and I （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域 them off."

He gazed at me defiantly.

"All 権利, son," I agreed. "I won't let you 負かす／撃墜する."

"You'd better stay in your room till Estelle has gone," I 追加するd. "We'll have plenty of time to バリケード the place afterwards."

I left him and went downstairs to the kitchen and switched on the light and sat 負かす／撃墜する. Things were going 井戸／弁護士席.

A 計画（する） was forming itself in my mind. Of course, I could have 危険d the 可能性 of 探偵，刑事s watching the house and 簡単に left the place. But I did not want to see Slatter. I had an idea he was hanging about the house, waiting to spring.

I felt more comfortable in the house.

CHAPTER XVI

It was a ４半期/4分の1 to eleven. Estelle had come in, cooked, （疑いを）晴らすd up and （疑いを）晴らすd out. I had dined 井戸／弁護士席 and Stanley had been 供給（する）d with steak both inside and out, and was lying on his bed with nearly two 続けざまに猛撃するs of perfectly good, cookable meat on his 直面する.

At first, I had thought of バリケードing the place, but a better idea had 示唆するd itself to me, devilishly 効果的な and childishly simple. I 単に knocked the 支援する out of the wardrobe in the 前線 room and left the 前線 door ajar. Nothing more.

With Stanley as an 付加 証言，証人／目撃する I ーするつもりであるd to secrete myself in the wardrobe and when Agatha and Gertrude entered with their 私立探偵s and （機の）カム, in the course of their search, to the bedroom, I would 直面する them and 需要・要求する to know what they were doing こそこそ動くing into the house with men companions. There was no escape for them; I 簡単に would 辞退する to believe their explanations and their mouths would be 調印（する）d for ever.

Stanley, with the 恐れる of the mythical One-攻撃する，衝突する Mulligan in his soul, was inclined to 疑問 the 知恵 of my 手はず／準備. He could see no good 推論する／理由 for 許すing Maureen and her ギャング（団） into the house, and I had to explain that they would 乱打する their way in, anyway. I at last smoothed his 反対s by agreeing to 急ぐ out of the wardrobe at the 権利 moment, lock the 前線 door, and bum the house 負かす／撃墜する.

It 手配中の，お尋ね者 eight minutes to eleven when I called Stanley to take up his position in the wardrobe. With the 支援する 除去するd, there was plenty of 空気／公表する, and although the odour of moth-balls still hung about and Stanley 主張するd on taking his 注目する，もくろむ-steak with him, we were as comfortable as we could 推定する／予想する to be.

The seconds doddered along and the minutes はうd after them. Stanley kept hissing questions into my ear, playing 一連の会議、交渉／完成する with his piece of steak, 転換ing his feet and 匂いをかぐing, until the mere proximity of his 団体／死体 irritated me almost to the point of choking him.

Eleven o'clock にわか景気d out from somewhere far away.

We held our breaths. The house seemed 十分な of things that creaked. The silence got up and walked about.

Stanley chewed the end of his steak nervously.

"Will they never come?" he mumbled.

"Courage, my boy," I whispered.

"What does One-攻撃する，衝突する Mulligan want to bring his ギャング（団） for?" he whimpered.

I 手渡すd him a moth-ball with the vague idea that it might console him, and he became silent.

The 前線 door creaked and the murmur of hushed 発言する／表明するs filtered through the 不明瞭. I could hear Stanley crunching the moth-balls. He trembled as the soft sound of 用心深い footsteps （機の）カム muffled from the hall.

"It's very dark," （機の）カム a 発言する／表明する, "I don't think there's any one here."

"It's ma!" gasped Stanley.

I clutched his throat and held it.

"Not so loud!" whispered Gertrude's 発言する／表明する. "He's here all 権利. Stanley would see to that."

As they paused in the hall, I 解放（する）d Stanley's throat and glared at him.

"Not a word out of you," I whispered savagely.

I opened the wardrobe door the merest fraction and peered out. The two women had come into the room and were just discernible in the 不明瞭. Some one つまずくd in the hallway, 悪口を言う／悪態ing softly in a man's 発言する／表明する, and I shut the door hurriedly.

Stanley looked at me with a strange 表現 on his 直面する. "I'm going to sneeze," he whispered.

"Don't!" I implored hoarsely.

"What's it 価値（がある）?" he whispered gloatingly.

I manoeuvred my 手渡す into my trousers pocket and passed him a 公式文書，認める. 激怒（する） 所有するd me as he 手渡すd me a moth-ball.

Gently, I 押し進めるd the door.

"What carryings-on!" Gertrude was murmuring, "Look at that bed. Broken to pieces."

"Hs—hs—hs—hs!" hissed Agatha, （電話線からの）盗聴 her foot on the 床に打ち倒す. I had heard that noise before from Agatha and it sent a 冷気／寒がらせる through me.

Stanley tapped me on the shoulder.

"It's coming on again," he whispered, covering his nose and mouth with his 手渡す.

I poked another 公式文書，認める at him with quivering fingers. He made a queer sizzling noise with his mouth and continued to 持つ／拘留する out his 手渡す. Hurriedly I gave him two more and he grunted softly and relaxed.

"Here, this way!" hissed a 発言する／表明する from outside the wardrobe.

A 混乱 of soft footsteps sounded in the hallway; Stanley clutched my arm and pointed frantically to his open mouth. I slipped the 残りの人，物 of the 公式文書，認めるs into his talons and 一打／打撃d him gently on the neck so that he trembled. The footsteps died away.

I turned my 直面する toward Stanley and smiled like a sick tiger.

"All's f—fair in love and w—war," he 滞るd.

He caught the 手渡す I stretched に向かって him.

"Listen!"

Someone was, very gently 押し進めるing the window up.

"Now be careful! Get in gently or you'll break something. One at a time."

"Maureen!" quavered Stanley, squeezing my 手渡す in a frenzied 支配する.

"And ギャング（団）," I 追加するd. "I feel queer, Stanley."

"Aw, dad!"

"I'm afraid I'm going to sneeze, Stanley."

He scrabbled frantically in the 狭くする space and 押し進めるd a bundle of 公式文書，認めるs into my 手渡すs.

"Dad!" he implored in an agonized whisper.

"Is that all?" I replied.

He 手渡すd me a few more 公式文書，認めるs and some silver. The 発言する／表明するs of two men, 同様に as Maureen's were mumbling in the room.

"P'非難するs they're in the 味方する-car," said one.

"味方する-car me foot!" scoffed Maureen. "Stanley's the chap we want to find."

"Might come across the old man," put in a 厳しい 発言する／表明する. Woggo's 発言する／表明する.

The silence of the tomb descended on the wardrobe and we put our 武器 about each other's necks for company's sake.

"Here they come!" said Maureen. "Now we'll get them."

"Don't see why you should go to all this trouble when you could—"

"Shut up!"

There was a clatter of feet in the hallway.

"In here!" cried Gertrude.

The light flickered on and I peered through the wardrobe keyhole with Stanley trying to 肘 me away. The scene was 驚くべき／特命の／臨時の.

Gertrude, Agatha and two men stood motionless in the doorway of the bedroom. Woggo Slatter and Simpson were 直面するing them, and Maureen stood irresolute between the two groups with her mouth open. Daisy, 明白に a late arrival, was half-way through the window. She had pink and blue garters on.

Woggo was the first to speak.

"売春婦!" he said.

The （一定の）期間 was broken.

"And who might you be?" 需要・要求するd Gertrude shrilly. "What are you doing in this house?"

Woggo stepped 支援する and leaning with one 手渡す against the window-sash, crossed his 脚s and 押し進めるd his hat over his 注目する，もくろむ.

"One might arst the same question," he drawled. "Oo might you be?"

Agatha 押し進めるd her way to the 前線.

"Who are these hussies?" she 叫び声をあげるd, pointing to the girls.

Steak swung her other 脚 over the window-sill and 前進するd in 戦う／戦い 形式. Woggo swept her 支援する with his arm.

"Oo are you?" he shouted to the group in the doorway.

"My 指名する is Agatha Gudgeon," answered Agatha crushingly. "I live here."

"Poor Jack," muttered Maureen.

"Ar, y'are, are yer?" mumbled Woggo.

"Now perhaps you will tell us what you mean by trespassing on our 前提s!" hissed Gertrude.

"We （機の）カム here to find—" 開始するd Maureen.

"'Old!" cried Simpson 劇的な. "Before another word is said—Oo are them two ネズミ-直面するd coots 'angin' 一連の会議、交渉／完成する in the background? Seems ter me I seen 'em before."

"These two gentlemen," replied Gertrude, with an 空気／公表する of Polar politeness, "these two gentlemen," she repeated, "are 私的な 探偵，刑事s."

"Har! Har!" growled Simpson and threw his hat on the 床に打ち倒す.

"D's!" shouted Woggo. "売春婦! Simp!"

"Har, I loves 探偵，刑事s," pealed Simpson, shedding his coat.

Shouting with savage joy they leapt for the two men in the doorway. Gertrude 叫び声をあげるd, Maureen 元気づけるd, and Steak pulled off her hat and made for Agatha.

Stanley heaved at my arm in a vain 試みる／企てる to get at the keyhole. "It's my turn," he muttered. "You've been looking all the time."

I fended him off with one 手渡す.

"I'll sneeze!" he 脅すd.

"Sneeze, damn you!" I muttered gleefully.

Agatha had escaped and 急ぐd out of the house and Daisy had taken on Aunt Gertrude, the next best thing. Simpson had finished his man, but Woggo toyed with his 犠牲者, knocking him 負かす／撃墜する and 選ぶing him up for the sheer innocent joy of it. It was a glorious sight.

Presently the room quietened. Gertrude had followed Agatha into the open 空気／公表する, and Steak, 調査するing a torn dress, breathed ひどく.

"Commorn," said Woggo, "we'll go."

His 発言する／表明する sounded elated and even boyish.

"Just a minute," said Maureen, busily scooping a 小衝突, 徹底的に捜す and scent-spray off the dressing-（米）棚上げする／（英）提議する.

"I like these and I know Jack would give them to me if I asked him. That reminds me—what about Stanley and his old man?"

"Aw, we'll find 'em later," growled Slatter. "'Urry up out of this."

"Yes, but we （機の）カム here to get 'em and we're going to get 'em."

"Why harp on it?" said Daisy.

"Harp on it! How would you like it?"

Still arguing, they 軍隊／機動隊d out the 前線 door and slammed it shut.

We listened as their 発言する／表明するs grew fainter and fainter in the distance and then flopped out of the wardrobe. The two 探偵，刑事s lay 平和的に 味方する by 味方する in the hallway.

"Do you think they're dead?" asked Stanley, 星／主役にするing at them.

"I'm afraid not," I sighed. "Give me a 手渡す to throw them over the 前線 盗品故買者."

"It doesn't 事柄," said one of them, sitting up. "I'm all 権利."

"井戸／弁護士席, （問題を）取り上げる your fellow buzzard and walk," I snapped.

"Walk and walk and keep on walking."

"Go on!" snarled Stanley, brandishing his 握りこぶし in the man's 直面する.

"All 権利. All 権利," he mumbled weakly.

"Get!" shouted Stanley as the other 探偵，刑事 opened his 注目する，もくろむs. "Get out before I kill the pair of you!"

悪口を言う／悪態ing silently, they staggered to their feet and swayed out into the street.

"Humph!" grunted Stanley. "I'll show 'em."

He glared after their 退却／保養地ing forms.

"Quicker'n that!" he barked.

They ちらりと見ることd 支援する piteously, and he slammed the door and swaggered up the hallway.

"That sort has to be dealt with 堅固に," he flung over his shoulder as I followed him.

"You're a tiger, all 権利," I replied admiringly.

He paused in the kitchen and turned to me with a puzzled look.

"What did she mean by 'harping on it'?"

I shook my 長，率いる. I was wondering about that myself.

He sat 負かす／撃墜する and wrinkled his forehead to give me the impression that he was thinking.

"Steak seemed to be on our 味方する and Eggs said—what did Eggs say?"

"She said something about how would you like it—or something," I answered.

"H'm! Ah, 井戸／弁護士席. No use worrying about it. Suppose we'd better 攻撃する，衝突する the kapok."

"攻撃する，衝突する what?" I queried.

"攻撃する，衝突する the kapok. Bungidoo—snatch a stretch of shut-注目する，もくろむ, somnolosa, go to sleep—Gee, you're dense!"

"I suppose I am," I muttered. "I'm tired."

"Ah, 井戸／弁護士席. You'll soon be wrapped in the 武器 of Murphy's. I'm going to sleep out here. Good night."

I went off into Gertrude's room and sat 負かす／撃墜する, thinking 深く，強烈に.

CHAPTER XVII

Queer, the incongruous thoughts one has occasionally. 特に in times of mental 強調する／ストレス. The mind seems to 始める，決める aside all major worries and considerations and fool about with something 完全に remote from them. It is a ありふれた thing and happens to all of us. The parachutist leaping from his 計画（する）, wonders if the canary has been fed. Derelicts about to 自殺 have 疑惑s about the （一定の）期間ing in their 別れの（言葉，会） 公式文書，認めるs. The explorer, bound for the 政治家, wonders if he 負傷させる the clock and put the cat out before he left home, and the 乱打するd boxer, 傾向がある upon the mat, wonders what his mother will say. And I wondered how and where I could find a position for Stanley. Perhaps this care for Stanley's 未来 had be come a 星／主役にする boarder in my subconscious mind; perhaps my tired brain could not 支配（する）／統制する my thoughts and they wandered where they 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる）d. An 平易な, 職業, with 平易な money and plenty of it. I mumbled them over, starting from the A's.

Architect, alderman. Beauty specialist, building 請負業者. Car lifter, catarrh curer. 麻薬 peddler. Evangelist. 直面する-lifter...政治家，政治屋, pugilist...Despairingly, I つまずくd on. Xylophonist. Yeast prescriber. Z—Z—Z—?

I got up and went to look for the dictionary.

Passing 負かす／撃墜する the hall in the 不明瞭, I bumped Stanley coming from the kitchen.

"Where are you going?" I asked.

"Up to the garage to get the bike," he replied. "It せねばならない be 修理d by now."

"At this time of the night!" I exclaimed.

"Garages are always open," he explained. "Day and night; like the lock-up. Get in any time you like, but you're はしけ when you come out."

A brain-wave 殺到するd over me.

"How'd you like to be a zodiaccer?" I asked him.

"Aw, I dunno. I'd have a 割れ目 at it. What is it? Anyhow," he 追加するd あわてて, "I'm not broke yet, you know."

"A zodiaccer," I explained, "is a man who 熟考する／考慮するs the 星／主役にするs and knows all about them and can tell—"

"I know!" he cried, "a film-actor! Or do you mean one of those he-chorus girls, or is it a blackmailer?" he 追加するd 激しく.

"It's the only one I can think of with a Z," I replied.

I could see it was no use talking to the boy.

"I'm going to be の中で the B's," he 宣言するd.

I nodded in emphatic 協定.

"I'm going to be a bike-rider. A professional, trick bike-rider," he continued, walking に向かって the door.

"And you'll 結局最後にはーなる appearing on some speedway 盗品故買者 as a professional trick 死体," I called after him.

He 匂いをかぐd loudly and walked out.

I strolled into the kitchen, thinking the 事柄 over. If the boy was really sincere in his 願望（する） to become a professional モーター-cyclist I could insure him and 残り／休憩（する） 保証するd that whatever sacrifices he made to 改善する the 産む／飼育する of モーター-cycles would not be made in vain. In such a profession he could not fail to 供給する for my old age by some means or other; and as a father, with a proper sense of my paternal 責任／義務s, this method of 供給するing for our 共同の 未来s 控訴，上告d to me...

Someone knocked at the door.

I switched the light out in the kitchen and kept still. Lately it had seemed that every time I opened the 前線 door, something happened.

"Anybody in?" bawled a 発言する／表明する from the street.

The knocking was 新たにするd.

It could not be the police. The police knock once and then bash the door in. Anyhow, what did it 事柄 if it was the police? The sturdiest of us get fed up at times. I went to the door and opened it.

"'Ullo," said the 不明瞭.

I opened the door a little wider and peered out.

A man about seven feet high, with a travelling-rug over his arm and a 控訴-事例／患者 in his 手渡す 迎える／歓迎するd me.

"It's me," he 発表するd.

"井戸／弁護士席?"

"Is this where the Gudgeons live?"

"Yes," I answered after a momentary hesitation.

"Is your 指名する Gudgeon?"

"Er—yes."

"井戸／弁護士席, I'm your brother-in-法律. Here, take these."

He threw his 控訴-事例／患者 and rug at me, 押し進めるd the door 支援する, and walked in.

I threw his 捕らえる、獲得する and rug out on the mat.

"This isn't an hotel," I said. "Eight 訪問者s have just left. We have no accommodation."

"I'm all 権利," he said peevishly. "Isn't Agatha here?"

"No," I snapped.

"Thank crikeys! I'll stay with you for a while."

"Agatha is at 現在の visiting her—"

"Don't tell me," he shouted. "I 約束d to call on her when I （機の）カム to Sydney. If I don't know where she is it's not my fault, is it?"

He struck a match.

"Where's the lamp?"

"What lamp?" I asked.

"Ain't there any light in the place?"

I switched the light on.

"Ar!" he, gasped. "Electricity."

I looked him over, starting from the base. There was nothing niggardly about his feet. He had on an enormous, one might say palatial pair of knobby-nosed boots of an ox-血 colour. His tight trousers showed two インチs of 厚い woollen socks. A leather belt, like the surcingle of a horse, girded him, and two bony wrists, from which dangled a pair of outsize 手渡すs, stuck out from the short sleeves of his coat. His hat and collar were too small. His 直面する was a 赤みを帯びた-brown and freckled 大部分は, like a 白人指導者べったりの東洋人.

His 直面する fell apart in a grin as I looked up at him.

"Decent sorta turn-out, eh?" he said smugly.

"You look swell," I agreed.

"Yes," he said, retrieving his rug and 事例／患者, "I wasn't goin' to have these city blokes pickin' me for a bushwhacker so I filled in a coupon for a 完全にする 装備する-out from Sydney. Five 続けざまに猛撃するs. Everything. 控訴, hat, boots—even a handkerchief and a watch and chain. Cheap, eh ?"

I nodded. I was wondering what Stanley, the man about town, would say?

"What's your 指名する?"

"Gudgeon," I replied.

"Ar, yes. Of course. But what's your other 指名する?"

"Jack."

"Shake," he said, 陳列する，発揮するing his 手動式の acreage. "My 指名する's George. George Weldon."

My 手渡す disappeared in a forest of fingers and was clenched tight in a 砂漠 of callouses.

"Lead on," he said.

I walked into the kitchen, switched the light on and waved him to a seat. He put his 事例／患者 on the 床に打ち倒す and, leaning over, 打ち明けるd it. "I've come a long way," he said, flinging the lid 支援する, "but I'm travelling light. Got bushed trying to find your house or I'd have got here earlier."

"Where from?" I asked.

"分裂（する） 激しく揺する," he answered. "Have a 減少（する） of snake charmer?"

I waved aside the proffered 瓶／封じ込める.

"Is that all your luggage?"

"Aw, I got a few things here. Goin' to do a bit of shopping while I'm in the city. Better have a 減少（する） of this. I brought it all the way from 分裂（する） 激しく揺する."

I took a sip from the 瓶／封じ込める he 押し進めるd toward me, and my throat 契約d. My tongue curled and flopped as, coughing, I put the 瓶／封じ込める 負かす／撃墜する.

"Better have a drink of water now, it stops the アルコール飲料 from taking the enamel off your teeth. Good stuff, eh?"

I nodded as I made for the tap.

"井戸／弁護士席 now, let's hear all the news," he said as I seated myself once more.

I rather liked the man. There was something about him; an 空気／公表する of frankness, honesty, 開いていること／寛大—something that I liked but could not define. A sort of innocence. I hoped he had some money. He was someone in whom I could confide, and I unbattened the hatches of my reserve and told him everything. I told him of the circumstances 主要な up to the 出発 of Agatha and Gertrude, and of the その後の happenings. Of Woggo and Steak and Eggs and Estelle and Stanley. Of the police, the 離婚 探偵，刑事s, the モーター-cycle and all the things that had happened or might happen. It did me good to see him nod his 長，率いる and hear him grunt in sympathy. He patted me on the 支援する as I finished.

"Never mind, Jack," he said. "You and me's going to be cobbers. If there's any fightin' to be done, leave it to me. As for that Slatter bloke—I'll 直す／買収する，八百長をする him all 権利."

He 開始するd to unlace his boots.

"My crikeys!" he 追加するd. "That young Stanley must be a bit of a doer!"

"You said it," I agreed.

He jerked off his boot.

"Me feet ain't really as big as this," he 発言／述べるd. "I got me roll in here. I heard about the sharps in Sydney and I'm taking no chances."

He 開始するd raking 公式文書，認めるs from his boots and shaking them on to the 床に打ち倒す. "Got a cheque for three thousand in the other boot. Sold out me 株 in a little 地雷 we had up at 分裂（する） 激しく揺する."

He looked into my open mouth.

"You show me 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the town and help me do some shoppin' and I'll stand the 損害賠償金. That all 権利?"

"That's all 権利, all 権利!" I gasped.

"All 権利. That's all 権利, then."

A muffled roar sounded in the street, grew louder and louder as we listened, and 終結させるd at the 前線 door with a fearful 衝突，墜落 that sent the crockery clattering from the 棚上げにするs.

George 押し進めるd me 支援する into my seat. "I'll go," he drawled, peeling his coat off.

I followed him along the hallway and stood behind him as he opened the door. Stanley, astride his モーター-cycle, 封鎖するd the 見解（をとる）.

"Dented my mudguard!" he whined.

I looked past him at the 後援d 盗品故買者.

"港／避難所't you got any ブレーキs?" I 需要・要求するd.

"Ar—ブレーキs!" he replied contemptuously. "Why didn't you leave the door open?"

I turned to George.

"This is it," I said. "Stanley, this is your Uncle George."

"'Ullo, Stan," said George, しっかり掴むing his 手渡す.

"'Lo, Uncle," replied Stanley, looking up at him. "Gee, you're big, aren't you?" he 追加するd admiringly. "I bet you're strong."

George simpered.

"I bet you can't 押し進める the モーター-bike and 味方する-car over the step and into the 前線 bedroom."

"Har! 'S'平易な!" replied George as Stanley dismounted.

I turned and walked 支援する into the house with Stanley behind me, leaving George to 扱う the machine.

"He's going to be useful to have about the home," 発言／述べるd Stanley, 除去するing his gloves. "Is he staying long?"

"Depends," I replied.

"Straight from the Never-Never by the look of him. Is he cashed up?"

"You leave your Uncle George alone!" I 警告するd him.

"Oh, all 権利. You saw him first, of course; but I'd just like to know."

"You must 扱う／治療する Uncle George with 尊敬（する）・点," I snapped.

"Oh," muttered Stanley. "I see. 井戸／弁護士席, I'll want a （売買）手数料，委託（する）／委員会／権限 on the takings, you know."

I made a swing at him as George entered.

"Ar, leave the boy alone," he drawled, "he didn't mean no 害（を与える）."

"He's always hitting me," blubbered Stanley, screwing his 直面する up.

"Never mind, Stan. You try and be a good boy. Here!"

He 手渡すd him a 続けざまに猛撃する and patted him on the shoulder.

"Boys will be boys, Jack," he said, turning to me.

Stanley grimaced at me behind his uncle's 支援する.

"That's all very 井戸／弁護士席," I cried, "but where am I going to get ten 続けざまに猛撃するs to have the 前線 盗品故買者 直す／買収する，八百長をするd up?"

"Don't worry about that, Jack. I'll see to that. Here, 得る，とらえる 持つ／拘留する of this."

"I can't let you 支払う／賃金 for it," I remonstrated, 押し進めるing the 公式文書，認める away.

"Gorn, take it. I've got plenty."

"No, thanks, George, old chap."

"I'll tell you what, uncle—" put in Stanley.

I grabbed the 公式文書，認める out of George's 手渡す. Stanley shrugged his shoulders and sat 負かす／撃墜する.

"井戸／弁護士席, it must be getting late," yawned George. "Where do I sleep?"

"Go and have a look around," I replied. "If you see a bed you like, sleep in it. My home is yours. Use it."

"Righto," he said heartily, 集会 his boots up. "Good night."

Stanley rose from his 議長，司会を務める as his uncle 板材d off.

"Good night, daddykins," he said.

"What's the strength of this 'daddykins' talk?" I queried suspiciously.

"We're friends, aren't we, dad?"

"I suppose so," I replied, わずかに mollified.

He held out his 手渡す and I shook it.

"井戸／弁護士席, nighty-night, dad."

"Good night, son. Sleep 井戸／弁護士席."

He left the room and I was about to 勝利，勝つd the clock, when he poked his 長，率いる around the doorway.

"Dad," he said, "you'll go halves with me in Uncle George, won't you?"

He was gone before I could think of anything.

CHAPTER XVIII

Uncle George was up at the ridiculous hour of five o'clock the next morning and blew the 前線 out of the stove, trying to boil some water. Evidently they didn't have gas at 分裂（する） 激しく揺する. He 板材d into my bedroom and gazed at me while I lay with both 注目する，もくろむs shut tight, breathing 深く，強烈に. Nobody gets me out of bed at five o'clock in the morning without using 軍隊. He tiptoed out of the room and five minutes later Stanley entered with his pre-breakfast 直面する on. He sat on the 辛勝する／優位 of the bed and glared at my trembling eyelids.

"He's mad!" he ejaculated.

I never answered.

"He （機の）カム to my room," he continued savagely, "and said that it was about time young fellers were out of bed. Said he'd overslept himself and it was five o'clock. You'd think it was five o'clock in the afternoon! He said they always had breakfast at half-past four at 分裂（する） 激しく揺する. Wants me to show him how to light the gas! Damn 分裂（する） 激しく揺する! What does he think I am?"

I snored.

"Oh, I know you're awake!" he snorted. "You can't, fool me."

I snored again and turned over, muttering as though dreaming.

"Uncle George!" he yelled. "Father's awake now."

"You dirty dog in the manger," I mumbled, sitting up. "Out—before I choke you, you life-shortener."

I lay 支援する suddenly as George entered the room, but it was too late.

"Ah, there you are, Jack. My crikeys, you've slept in this morning! Do you know what time it is?"

I shook my 長，率いる.

"４半期/4分の1 past five!" he 宣言するd impressively.

"My word, is it?" I gasped. "And here am I still in bed! Has Stanley cooked the breakfast yet?"

"He's just out of bed, the young rascal."

"Off you go, Stanley, and cook the breakfast—take him with you, George. I'll be along presently."

"But, gee, you don't 推定する／予想する a man—"

"Come on, Stan, you young rascal," said George, grabbing him by the arm.

Stanley ground his teeth at me and left the room and I lay 支援する in bed for a few more minutes 残り／休憩（する）.

If there is one thing I hate more than any other thing, it's getting up 早期に. How on earth people can make a habit of it is beyond my 力／強力にする of understanding. I have always regarded an 早期に-riser as one mentally afflicted, or hounded by circumstance. One has only to 熟考する／考慮する history to know that the higher the civilization, the lower the 百分率 of alarm-clock slaves. In this 尊敬（する）・点, milkmen and their 肉親，親類d are but one 除去する from the ice-age. Their place is with the cows. However, I thought it best not to give George a wrong impression for the start and I dragged my 団体／死体 unwillingly from bed and hoped 真面目に for his ultimate 救済. If all other methods failed, I could give him some knock-out 減少（する）s with his supper before we went to bed.

Breakfast was a rough and ready sort of meal. The 肉親，親類d you might 推定する／予想する on a 潜水艦 that had been 潜水するd for a week during a 戦う／戦い.

I 説得するd Stanley that his presence would serve no useful 目的s on our shopping 探検隊／遠征隊 and he roared off on his モーター-cycle in low spirits and high gear and disappeared in a cloud of smoke. As for the actual shopping, little need be said of it. George was very disappointing. For a man with a cheque for three thousand 続けざまに猛撃するs in his left boot he showed an 驚くべき／特命の／臨時の 欠如（する） of 企業. He was so 決定するd that no one should 略奪する him of a few shillings that his 警告を与える would not 許す him to put a penny in a 重さを計るing-machine unless he could see where the coin went and got a 領収書 for it. Not that he was mean. He was just 怪しげな. Coming from remote 地域s where the kangaroos shook the earth with their boundings and the eagles darkened the sky, the city was to him a den of iniquity where 安全 depended on perpetual vigilance.

It is a bushman's failing. They have heard so many tales about city sharps; so many of their friends have come 支援する home on foot after an 不成功の 試みる／企てる to 選ぶ the エース; so many have returned with a 賃貸し（する） of Hyde Park for agistment 目的s; so many of them have been sold telephone booths, traffic signals, sundials, and public fountains that they have become 怪しげな and will プロの／賛成のd the blind man in the eyeball to see if he is really blind. It was with the greatest difficulty that I managed to get George into a tailor's where I could get a little （売買）手数料，委託（する）／委員会／権限 for introducing him. As the moth is attracted to the 炎上, so some evil instinct drew him to sell out and move on 設立s that sold him the cheapest goods at the highest possible prices. The same instinct led him to hotels where simple, honest bushmen, 類似して attracted, yearned silently over their beers, longing for gum-trees and 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑うing their fellow yearners. We dined in a hash-house, his 嘆願 存在 that in any more pretentious place people would look at him. He was shy. I understood how he felt, and for 商売／仕事 推論する／理由s forgave him; にもかかわらず, I 苦しむd.

We …に出席するd a matinee at a theatre of his own choosing. The スポットライト was half a （競技場の）トラック一周 behind the song and dance artist, the song and dance artist was a （競技場の）トラック一周 in 前線 of the orchestra, and the orchestra was so far off the 重要な that it should have been locked out for the night. The Instinct again. A basso-soprano with tonsilitis recited the words of a song while the orchestra 支援するd her up with a little music; and a woman with two babies, sitting next to me, had brought a bundle of fried 半導体素子 potatoes with her in order that her children might grease everyone within a 確かな 半径. The popping of peanut 爆撃するs was almost deafening. An 幼児 prodigy played "Home 甘い Home" on the concertina with more feeling than 抑制, and the delighted clapping of George's 抱擁する, horny 手渡すs left me with all the symptoms of shellshock. The only thing I enjoyed in the whole 業績／成果 was when the acrobat landed on the wrong part of his neck and had to be carried off the 行う／開催する／段階 on a 担架. George was 大いに taken with one of the Vere de Vere Quartet. He communicated his opinions to me in a hoarse whisper that may not have been heard outside in the street. She had a red and white 直面する, red trunks, yellow hair, and a sort of 緊急, 陪審／陪審員団-装備する chest-protector held up in a disappointingly 安全な・保証する manner by two 略章s. She was 円熟した. If her physical 開発 had been at the expense of her mental 力／強力にするs she could not help but be an idiot. George said she reminded him somehow of 分裂（する） 激しく揺する. He asked me if I knew her. In my 役割 as guide, philosopher and friend, and ーするために 保存する my prestige, I had to tell him that I knew them all. I was hardly 用意が出来ている for his request for an introduction after the show. He was evidently gnawing his way out of the cocoon. Loath though I was to 妨げる his 開発 as a man about town, I was compelled to excuse myself as we made our way out of the place over a crackling bed of peanut 爆撃するs.

I knew by bitter experience 伸び（る）d in my 早期に days, what an afternoon in the Vere de Vere strata of the theatrical world would be. I have met and consorted with the denizens of these peanut infernos where every 勧める is an ex-pugilist. Memory takes me 支援する to Lascivia Lotelli whose family 指名する was Higgins. She was in the "合法的" 商売／仕事, whatever that is—I was too tactful to 問い合わせ—and called herself, not an actress, but a "turn." She was more than a turn, she was a 革命. She had a kleptomaniacal コンビナート／複合体 and no inhibitions. She was surrounded with such an aura of eau-de-cologne that the 飛行機で行くs couldn't get 近づく her, and その結果 there were 非，不，無 on her. Her parents were Protestants, but her tastes were 普遍的な, although she never touched methylated spirits because she thought it unladylike. In many other ways she was 精製するd, but I have since thought that she must have had a lot of lime in her bones because I have never since met a woman with such an 広範囲にわたる natural かわき. Her motto was, "Anything Once," and she had it stuck up over her bed at home. Whenever I see a clove I think of her and her memory is as green as ever, though I am not. I explained all this to George as we were walking up the street and he grunted glumly, and said I was hard but he supposed I was 権利.

"Are you a woman-hater, Jack?" he asked after an interval of 激しい thinking.

I 保証するd him that I was not and proceeded to expound. I like George, さもなければ I would not have bothered.

"There is the man who thinks he is 不成功の with women—only thinks it, George, he's never really tried—he's one sort. There's the man who is married on five 続けざまに猛撃するs a week; there's the man with an ideal—poor devil; there's the （イスラム圏での）首長 who has stolen into the harem and can't get out, and there's the 無効の, but there are no woman-haters."

"What are you, then?"

"My eyelids are unstuck," I said 静かに.

"井戸／弁護士席, Agatha—" he began.

"Say no more, George. Look at these 関係."

I reined him in at a shop window.

"My crikeys!" he exclaimed. "Ain't they humdingers. Look at that yellow one. 'Eau-de-白人指導者べったりの東洋人'—what's that?"

"That's the colour."

"I think I'll get that," he said, struggling to 解放する／自由な himself.

"An all-yellow tie! Have some taste, George. You'll antagonize all the policemen in town. If you must buy another tie, get that one 示すd 'Snappy,' the red and green one."

"What'll I ask for?" he 問い合わせd, pausing at the door.

"Ask for 'Snappy.'" I was getting a bit fed up. It is no joke shopping with a man who 選ぶs on butcher's apron 構成要素 for a lounge 控訴. He 再現するd at last with a large 小包 under his arm.

"They said I'd have to buy the collar and shirt and handkerchiefs and pyjamas to go with the tie," he explained sheepishly. "A man's gotter look smart."

"All 権利," I sighed. "Go and give that 小包 支援する and tell them to send it. When will you learn that no one ever carries anything?"

He gripped me by the shoulder and pointed across the road. "What place is that?"

"The Blue Garter," I said. "It's gone off a lot lately. Hasn't been （警察の）手入れ，急襲d for a fortnight. Why do you ask?"

"Stanley's モーター-bike is outside, so I was just thinking that he might be inside."

"The young hound!" I exclaimed. "Wallowing in that den of iniquity, casting his 団体／死体 and soul into the melting-マリファナ, 涙／ほころびing his moral fibre to rags and enjoying himself 一般に, while his father walks about the streets, shopping!"

"Aw, leave the boy alone, he ain't done no 害（を与える）," pleaded George as I 用意が出来ている to cross the street.

"All very 井戸／弁護士席, you 味方するing with the boy, but what about his soul and his fibre?"

"Aw, don't worry the boy about his soul and all that just when he's enjoying himself. Anyhow there won't be anything much doing in there till later, will there?"

"No, that's 権利," I mumbled. "But what's Stanley in there for if there's nothing doing?"

"P'非難するs that's why he's there."

"You don't know Stanley," I said sadly. "If there is nothing doing at the Blue Garter, Stanley will start something—and I want to be in it."

"Is he like that?" 問い合わせd George, 辛勝する／優位ing me に向かって an hotel on the corner.

"You've no idea of the depths of degradation to which that boy will descend."

"Aw, 井戸／弁護士席. We were all young once. Come and have one."

I went with him, just to please him.

CHAPTER XIX

We idled about town for hours, filling in time.

We followed two pairs of lace stockings up George Street as far as the Central 鉄道 and then they 脅すd to give us in 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 so we caught a tram 支援する. George bought a ready-made 控訴 and put it on in the shop. The coat was so tight across the 支援する that he had to breathe like an exhausted dog. We …に出席するd a pictureshow for a few hours, and altogether spent a 哀れな evening. にもかかわらず it was after eleven o'clock before we passed the Blue Garter again. Stanley's モーター-bike was still parked at the kerb. Doubtless a hundred police 公式文書，認める-調書をとる／予約するs 含む／封じ込めるd its number.

"I'm going to save Stanley from the 悪意のある 影響（力） of that place," I 宣言するd 堅固に.

"Me too," said George, …を伴ってing me across the road. "It's terrible to think how a young feller can be 誘惑するd into them 共同のs and come out with his soul all mushed up, ain't it?"

"It is, it is," I agreed passionately.

We 上がるd the stairs and, entering the （人が）群がるd cafe, gazed about.

George plucked my sleeve.

"Do you see him?" I asked.

"That girl smiled at me," he simpered. "That one over there. I wonder how I could get an introduction?"

"You seem to be pretty strong on these introductions. We have done Stanley an 不正," I 追加するd. "He is not here. We were a bit 迅速な, 告発する／非難するing the poor boy as we did."

"She waggled a finger at me!" giggled George, screwing a piece out of my 肘. "How can I get intrduced?" he pleaded.

"Go and buy her a drink and may the Lord have mercy on your soul. I'm going to speak to the 経営者／支配人."

I left him and accosted the 長，率いる demon.

"I'm looking for a young man," I said, "tall, inclined to be fair, rather soopy 表現. Probably dressed in モーター gear. Have you noticed him about here?"

"No. I'm sure he never （機の）カム in here," replied the 経営者／支配人. "We never 許す 望ましくない characters in here. Sure you 港／避難所't made a mistake?"

"H'm!" I grunted, 一打／打撃ing my chin.

"Come now, sergeant, you know that I'd give you any 援助 I かもしれない could. The man is not here. Come and have a cup of tea—or something, sergeant."

"I'm not a 探偵，刑事!" I exclaimed.

"You aren't!" gasped the 経営者／支配人. "井戸／弁護士席 what the 炎s do you want to come in here looking like that for! Who are you, anyhow?"

"Now listen—" I began.

"Get out!" he 命令（する）d. "Coming in here," he spluttered, "脅すing everyone—looking like that—"

"Look here—"

"Get out! And take that animated 解雇する／砲火／射撃-escape with you!" he hissed, pointing a quivering finger at George.

George strode in between us.

"Listen to me!" he said in a 深い 発言する／表明する that made the chandelier tinkle. "We're looking for a boy called Stanley Gudgeon. Is he here or is he damn 井戸／弁護士席 isn't here?"

Three waiters drifted up to the 経営者／支配人's 味方する and gazed calmly over our 長，率いるs.

"What do you know about him?" he 需要・要求するd ひどく. "Who are you, the pair of you?"

I peered around George's 肘.

"I am John Gudgeon," I replied haughtily.

"Stan's old man!" gasped the 経営者／支配人. "Is that a fact?"

I nodded.

"井戸／弁護士席! 井戸／弁護士席!" he cried, 延長するing both 手渡すs. "I am sorry, Mr. Gudgeon. Why didn't you say so at first? I really must わびる to you—and to Mr—er—"

"Weldon," whispered George, dazedly. "Stanley's uncle."

"Mr Weldon. Yes. To be sure. Step this way, gentlemen. I really am sorry. I hope you won't について言及する this to young Mr Stanley, Mr Gudgeon. It is so 平易な to make a mistake—one can never be sure—of course I should have know at once—the resemblance. Dear me, I am sorry—tut-tut."

He pattered on, walking sideways and waving his 手渡すs and we followed him dumbly through four doors and 負かす／撃墜する three flights of stairs.

"I do hope you will overlook our little 誤解, gentlemen," he said, pausing before a baize-covered door. "I'd like to 保持する young Mr Stanley's patronage—be very glad to welcome both of you too—any time—make it a sort of family 事件／事情／状勢, eh? Ha! Ha!"

I mumbled something as the door opened. A large thickly-carpeted room, blue with smoke and ぱらぱら雨d with （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs was 明白な through the open doorway. I counted seven doors in different parts of the room. The 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業 at the end of the room was 砂漠d but the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs were （人が）群がるd.

"This way, gentlemen; Mr Stanley will be in the two-up room, I think."

We followed on.

One of the seven mysterious doors opened to the 経営者／支配人's 魔法 touch and we had one (n)艦隊／(a)素早いing glimpse of a large room 完全に covered with green baize. Tiers of seats lined the 塀で囲むs. A man stood in the centre of a square of eager 直面するs with a flat piece of ivory in his 手渡す. And then Stanley appeared at the doorway, 支援 out.

"前向きに／確かに won't have it!" he was muttering. "Sort of thing has to stop. Nice 明言する／公表する of 事件／事情／状勢s—"

He stopped as he caught sight of us, paused wideeyed, and then shut the door with a gentle click.

"What the devil are you doing here?" he gasped.

The 経営者／支配人 屈服するd, raised his eyebrows, and left us. I was speechless. Stanley, in an excellently 削減（する） dinnersuit, was a 見通し of such sartorial magnificence that the sight of him struck me 一時的に dumb. He 注目する，もくろむd the pair of us peevishly.

George shuffled his feet.

"Follow me," said Stanley curtly, and strode off without another ちらりと見ること at us, as though we were two out-of-work labourers.. Several men nodded to him as we passed through the room and the blase nonchalance with which he returned their 儀礼 was galling to see. We 上がるd the same stairs we had just come 負かす／撃墜する, passed through the さまざまな doors and 設立する ourselves once more in the cafe. It looked as if he was going to put us out. Speech returned to me and I gripped him by the coat.

"Look here!" I 開始するd.

"Now shut up or I'll have you thrown out!"

I drew a 深い breath. Parental affection slunk 支援する into a crevice of my 存在 and I felt myself getting red in the neck.

"Aw, leave the boy alone, he ain't done no 害（を与える）," said George, しっかり掴むing my arm.

I was about to 主張する myself, when a shout went up from a far corner of the room.

"Gudgeon!"

One ちらりと見ること was 十分な. Slatter, with Maureen, Daisy and Simpson, were on their feet and 押し進めるing 支援する their 議長，司会を務めるs.

"The bike!" I cried, clutching Stanley in a frenzied 支配する. "Start it, boy, while we 持つ／拘留する them 支援する."

"Don't be silly," he replied loftily.

"What's the 事柄 with him?" queried George, gazing at Slatter, who was approaching with his 武器 hanging gorilla-like at his 味方するs and a smile of 深い satisfaction on his 直面する.

I 運ぶ／漁獲高d Stanley to the 最高の，を越す of the stairs and 押し進めるd him in the 支援する. He rolled most of the way.

"激突する him!" I shouted to George. "手渡す him one and then run for it!"

George 星／主役にするd at me with astonishment oozing from every pore.

"Him!" I shrieked wildly, pointing to Woggo. "Dong him!"

I could wait no longer. My feet touched the stairs twice before I reached the 底（に届く）. Stanley was outside, stamping viciously on the kick-starter of his cycle.

"There was no need to go on like that," he gabbled nervously, fumbling with the gadgets on the 扱う-妨げる／法廷，弁護士業.

"Start the damned thing!" I yelled.

The engine roared into 動議 as I spoke.

Stanley leapt into the saddle.

"Pile in," he snapped. "Here comes Uncle George."

George dashed out on to the pavement and 急ぐd に向かって us. "I think they're after me!" he gasped.

He flung himself on to the 味方する-car and clutched me around the neck as the machine swung out from the kerb. A （人が）群がる of men belched out from the doorway as we gathered 速度(を上げる）, Woggo の中で them.

"Taxi! Taxi!" they shouted, and then 急ぐd for an unattended 小旅行するing-car that stood at the kerb.

"My crikeys," gasped George. "They are after me!"

Shops, lights, streets, ぼんやり現れるd in 前線 of us and then flashed behind us.

"Flatten yourselves 負かす／撃墜する," shouted Stanley. "Too much 勝利，勝つd 抵抗. Lean out going 一連の会議、交渉／完成する this corner."

"Flatten yourself, George," I said. "I'm flat."

"I'm too long!" whined George.

"嘘（をつく） along the 最高の，を越す, with your feet on the nose of the 味方する-car," directed Stanley, shouting above the roar of the engine.

George wriggled on 最高の，を越す of me with his 直面する 圧力（をかける）d on my ear, breathing hotly 負かす／撃墜する my neck.

"You're not flat," he said reproachfully. "Your 膝s are bent."

"Do the best you can," I replied. "I'm stuck."

A roaring 勝利，勝つd snatched my hat away and 投げつけるd it 負かす／撃墜する the street. George's followed it.

He peered over the 最高の，を越す of my 長，率いる.

"They're still after us" said George. "What are we はうing along like this for?" I shouted to Stanley.

"Doing fifty," he snapped. "非，不，無 of these damned corners are banked."

Perhaps he had some justification for his snappishness. Although most of the late traffic had left the streets, we were far from having the road to ourselves. Three cars had run up on the footpath as we approached them. 儀礼 of the road, I suppose.

"My crikeys, they're coming up now!" gasped George, as we bumped over a 鉄道 crossing. "There's another car coming behind them."

"That'll be the traffic 警官，（賞などを）獲得するs," said Stanley, peering over his shoulder. "No wonder they're 伸び（る）ing on us. Hang on!"

The roar of the engine 増加するd in 容積／容量 and the 急ぐing 空気／公表する put its 手渡す in my 直面する and 押し進めるd. The houses thinned out as we 急襲するd past the 郊外s. A khaki-覆う？ 人物／姿／数字 on a モーター-cycle swung around a corner we had just passed.

"He's coming too," 発言／述べるd George.

"That's another traffic-警官，（賞などを）獲得する," I explained. "We re done now."

"I can't （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域 him with a 負担 like this," said Stanley despairingly. "Seems to be a dark clump of bush or something about a mile さらに先に up the road. We'll be there in a minute. One, of you hop off as we pass it."

"支配（する）／統制する yourself," said George contemptuously.

A sudden loud 報告（する）／憶測 sounded behind us and George clutched me by the neck with both 手渡すs. "He's 狙撃!" he quavered. "Let go," I gurgled, 努力する／競うing to 解放する／自由な myself. "I think he's got me."

"Where?" gasped George, 解放（する）ing me.

"Here," I moaned. "In the 支援する."

Stanley gazed over his shoulder.

"発射—me 注目する，もくろむ!" he jibed. "The 警官，（賞などを）獲得する on the bike has had a blow-out."

"I'm sure I'm 発射," I muttered.

Indeed I would have sworn to it. I felt a 際立った twinge in the 支援する すぐに after the 報告（する）／憶測. I explained it to George.

"Ar, you and your 支援する!" he said. "How far have we gone, Stan?"

"About thirty miles, I think. I'll open her up presently."

George became silently thoughtful.

"Good-oh!" he yelled suddenly. "They've caught Slatter's 暴徒. The 警官，（賞などを）獲得するs have got 'em."

"A very good thing too," I 発言／述べるd.

And it was a very good thing. 越えるing the 速度(を上げる） 限界 as they were, they were a menace to traffic and a danger that 脅すd the life and 四肢s of every 歩行者 on the road. I hoped that they would be punished 厳しく.

"We can slow 負かす／撃墜する now, can't we?" asked George, poking Stanley with his foot.

"I suppose so," he replied reluctantly.

"I think you'd better keep going," I said. "There are two more policemen coming after us on モーター-cycles."

He crouched over the 扱う-妨げる／法廷，弁護士業s and we roared on through the night.

"They don't seem to be trying to catch us," said George after a while. "They're just keeping behind us, waiting for us to break 負かす／撃墜する or something. Have you got plenty of 石油, Stan?"

"Had a 十分な 戦車／タンク to start with," answered Stanley.

I gazed over George's neck at the moonlit road. Bushes and trees swept up to us on either 味方する, flitted past us and were swallowed up in murkiness. To the 権利, a 範囲 of hills sloped blackly against the starry sky. I could see no houses at all, and the only lights were the headlamps of the 追求するing cycles. Stanley's cycle had 非，不，無.

"George," I said, "you're a bushman—where are we?"

"Blowed if I know. Stanley, do you know where we are?"

"No, uncle," replied Stanley. "But I can guess where we'll finish."

"Where?"

"Clink," said Stanley succinctly.

George looked at me interrogatively.

"He means the cooler," I explained.

"Quod?"

"Yes."

"井戸／弁護士席, why didn't you say so at first, instead of using all those silly slang 条件?"

We relapsed again into silence and the miles rolled behind...

Coming to a cross-road, Stanley swept around the bend and a most annoying thing happened. George 発射 off the 味方する-car into some bushes, taking my collar with him. Stanley, with his 注目する，もくろむs 直す／買収する，八百長をするd on a rutty road, did not seem to notice. George's going had been swift and strangely silent considering the circumstances. I was upset. I hate 存在 seen in public without a collar. I don't think a man looks respectable without a collar. I was tempted to advise Stanley of George's 出発, but my position in the 味方する-car was so much more comfortable that I decided, although with かなりの 不本意, to let the collar go.

It was but a few minutes later that the barking of dogs 先触れ（する）d our approach to a collection of houses grouped on either 味方する of the road. The road 広げるd out into a dusty, moonlit street, and an excited dog raced と一緒に us and leapt at Stanley. The machine swerved, we 衝突，墜落d through a little wire 盗品故買者 and （機の）カム to a dead stop against a low, 木造の veranda.

Stanley 選ぶd a piece of 後援d 支持を得ようと努めるd out of his hair and sighed 深く，強烈に.

"This," he said, "is where we get pinched."

I 押し進めるd a picket off my chest and sat up.

"We must have lost the two traffic-警官，（賞などを）獲得するs," said Stanley, ちらりと見ることing 負かす／撃墜する the road.

"井戸／弁護士席, why should we get pinched?" I 需要・要求するd. "What are we sitting here for?"

"No use running," he replied gently. "We'd get lost. The machine is 破産した／（警察が）手入れするd."

"Yes, but—"

"Read that," he said tiredly.

I ちらりと見ることd to where he pointed. An enamelled アイロンをかける 調印する glinted dully against the dark background of the cottage 塀で囲む:

POLICE STATION

"Righto," （機の）カム a 静める 発言する／表明する from a window 近づく the ground. "Wait till I get my boots on. Don't go."

Stanley gazed at me and spread out his 手渡すs, palms up, in the Hebrew manner.

"There you are, you see. I knew we'd get pinched."

He ちらりと見ることd 支援する at the 乱打するd 盗品故買者 and then at the 味方する-car.

"Where's Uncle George?"

"Fell out a couple of miles 支援する," I explained, jerking my 長，率いる in the direction where I thought George might be.

"Lucky cow!" 不平（をいう）d Stanley.

I was telling him about George's selfishness in 粘着するing to my collar when he left the 味方する-car, but a 厳しい 発言する／表明する interrupted me.

"Get off that bike and come inside."

I dragged my cramped 団体／死体 out of the 味方する-car and followed Stanley through the doorway of the cottage.

A kerosene lamp shed a mellow glow over a small room which was almost wholly taken up by a （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する and a rolltop desk. The constable, 覆う？ in trousers and boots and a pyjama coat, seated himself and 開始するd a search through the litter of papers on the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する.

"Got a pencil?" he asked, looking up.

Stanley 手渡すd him one.

"Now then," he said, wetting the end of it, "指名する and 演説（する）／住所."

We told him. Morality and the new number-plate of the cycle 勧めるd us to truthfulness.

"占領／職業?"

"Salesmen."

"Both of you?"

"Yes."

"Turn out your pockets."

We emptied out.

"What do you want to carry all this gear about with you for?" he queried disgustedly. "I've got to make a 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる） of all that muck."

We stood in apologetic silence.

"Aw, put it 支援する and I'll 直す／買収する，八百長をする it up later," he growled, biting the end off a yawn.

"Three o'clock in the morning!" he exclaimed. "Don't you think a man wants any 残り／休憩（する）!"

We scooped up our 所持品 and 取って代わるd them in our pockets.

"Lemme see," he mumbled. "Wilful 破壊 Gov'ment 支え（る）'ty, 越えるing 速度(を上げる） 限界, riotous behaviour, riding without licence—"

"I've got a licence!" 抗議するd Stanley.

"Don't interrupt!" roared the constable.

"Riding without a licence, resisting 逮捕（する）," he ちらりと見ることd at a small patch in the 膝 of his trousers, "涙／ほころびing uniform, no vis'ble means support—Ah, I'll 令状 the damn thing out in the morning."

He 押し進めるd his 議長，司会を務める 支援する, and unhooked a bunch of 重要なs from the 塀で囲む.

"Follow me," he grunted, "but go in 前線."

He guided us along a 狭くする passage that led through the building, out to a large gravelled yard.

"Straight on," he directed, 動議ing toward a whitewashed, 石／投石する lock-up.

We つまずくd across the yard and paused at the アイロンをかける door while he opened it.

"We've only got one 独房," said the constable, apologetically.

"You'll find a stack of 一面に覆う／毛布s in there and don't knock the sergeant's 押し進める-bike over. And mind the wheelbarrow," he 警告を与えるd as we stepped into the 不明瞭.

The door clanged behind us.

The cover of the 秘かに調査する-穴を開ける swung 支援する and the light from the policeman's たいまつ shone through.

"And don't kick up a 列／漕ぐ／騒動, or I'll come out and quieten the pair of you. No singing. D'ye hear me!"

The light blinked out and we heard him trudging away.

Still listening, we heard him trudging 支援する.

"And don't go scrawling your 指名するs all over the 塀で囲むs, or 製図／抽選 on 'em or you'll have to whitewash the whole blooming lot."

He strode away again and we were left in the 不明瞭.

Vainly I strove to accustom my 注目する，もくろむs to the gloom.

"Where are you, Stanley?" I whispered.

"Here," said Stanley.

Groping my way toward the sound, I 衝突する／食い違うd with something solid and sat 負かす／撃墜する with a bump on the hard 床に打ち倒す.

"That'd be the wheelbarrow," said Stanley, "unless it's the 一面に覆う／毛布s. It wouldn't be the 一面に覆う／毛布s, would it?"

"Damn you!" I 悪口を言う／悪態d.

"It's the wheelbarrow," muttered Stanley.

"Nice confounded mess you've got us into this time," I growled savagely.

"売春婦!" exclaimed Stanley. "I like that! I got you into it! If it hadn't been for you and Uncle George に引き続いて me around, this would never have happened!"

Silence 続いて起こるd for what seemed like hours. I sat on the 床に打ち倒す, and searched myself for matches one hundred times...

Footsteps sounded outside the 独房.

"Listen!" hissed Stanley.

The door opened.

"The 一面に覆う／毛布s are in the wheelbarrow," （機の）カム the policeman's 発言する／表明する, "and if there's any more of you they can go to hell and sleep out on the road—and don't 令状 on the 塀で囲むs."

The door の近くにd again and the bolt 発射 into its socket.

"Who's there?" I called softly.

"Is that you, Jack?"

It was Uncle George.

A match ゆらめくd up and his 表現 soured as he saw us.

"My crikeys, this is a nice blooming mess you've got me into!" he 不平（をいう）d.

"売春婦!" I exclaimed. "I like that!"

"Ah, shut up, dad, and pass me over some 一面に覆う／毛布s," said Stanley wearily.

"Mind the sergeant's 押し進める-bike," said George あわてて. "Wait till I strike a match."

"We know all about the sergeant's rotten 押し進める-bike," I replied. "We don't want to hear any more about the filthy thing. Catch these 爆破d 一面に覆う／毛布s."

"Now don't get upset," said George, soothingly. "You just sit 負かす／撃墜する there and I'll 直す／買収する，八百長をする everything up, so's we'll be comfortable."

I sat 負かす／撃墜する mumbling.

"There're two アイロンをかける beds here," he said, "but they're piled up with boxes. We'll just 転換 these barrows and things and spread the 一面に覆う／毛布s on the 床に打ち倒す. That'll be nice and all 権利, won't it, Jack?...Eh, Jack?...Won't it, Jack?"

"Ah, shut up!" I growled.

"Don't take any notice of him, uncle," said Stanley. "I'm sorry he 押し進めるd you out of the 味方する-car," he 追加するd.

"I fell out," 自白するd George.

"Oh, 井戸／弁護士席, as long as you think so—" replied Stanley carelessly, and left the 宣告，判決 unfinished.

"There you are," said George, presently. "Everything's 始める，決める. Come over here, Jack."

I got to my feet and lounged over to the 一面に覆う／毛布s. We seated ourselves, 味方する by 味方する, with George in the middle.

"罰金 confounded mess—" I 開始するd.

"Light your 麻薬を吸う, dad," interrupted Stanley. "Don't start that all over again."

It was a good suggestion and I fumbled around for my 麻薬を吸う and filled it. George held a match and the three of us lit up.

"Very unlucky for three to light off the same match," 発言／述べるd Stanley after a 簡潔な／要約する interval of silence.

"My word, yes!" agreed George. "Never thought of that."

"Bah!" I exclaimed. "Old women! Do you think we could be any unluckier than we are now?"

"We could be lost in the bush," 示唆するd Stanley.

"Or kicked to death by Slatter's ギャング（団）," said George, brightly.

"Go on," I 勧めるd 激しく. "元気づける me up."

Stanley yawned.

"Uninteresting sort of 独房," he murmured. "Is this the first time you've been in, uncle?"

"Yes," said George. "I ain't a 常習的な 犯罪の. This is my debut."

"Hang around with Stanle for a few weeks," I interposed.

"You'll be lucky if you escape the noose."

"How did you manage to get pinched?" continued Stanley.

"Aw, I didn't manage, 正確に／まさに," replied George. "No 令状ing-on-the-塀で囲むs caught me. After I fell out of the 味方する-car, I got up and ran along the road after you, but you didn't seem to notice that I'd gone, so I kept up a bit of a trot for the next mile and then I perceives the bike up against the veranda. When I sees the 盗品故買者 all 粉砕するd in, I says to myself, 'That's Stan's bike,' and I goes over to see what's happened. While I'm there, out comes No-令状ing-on-the-塀で囲むs, and here I am."

He turned to me.

"How was it you didn't notice me 落ちる out?"

"I told Stanley that you had been thrown out and asked him to pull up, but he 単に laughed and 辞退するd," explained. "石／投石する the crows!" exclaimed Stanley indignantly. "I—"

"Silence!" I hissed, "or I'll brain you!"

"Aw, leave the boy alone—" 開始するd George.

"Yes, yes," I snapped. "I know. 'He ain't done no 害（を与える）.' That's it, isn't it? He has only got us into the lock-up. If we are let out, we are at the mercy of Slatter and his fellow garrotters. If we stay in, we'll stay for six months. That is what comes of 存在 a conscientious parent. This is what comes of trying to save him from that Blue Garter den. He has had too much liberty and not enough discipline. Things will be different 今後."

"Aw, leave—" said George, and stopped.

I tucked the 一面に覆う／毛布 around me and chewed the 茎・取り除く of my 麻薬を吸う.

"Stan," said George, "how comes it that you're such a big person at the Blue Garter?"

"What do you mean?"

"井戸／弁護士席, you seem to be エース high with the 経営者／支配人, and you're terrible 井戸／弁護士席 in."

"Oh! 井戸／弁護士席, you see, uncle, I'm a good 顧客. And then of course, I brought 'em a lot of custom. All the boys go there now. And then there's the two-up room. That was my idea, and another thing, the proprietor had been losing pretty ひどく with the wheel one night and the bank went broke. Of course, the game was stuck. He took a 危険 and slipped, and then he had to 支払う／賃金 out. I 支援するd him up with a cheque for a thousand—"

"Eh?" I gasped.

"Of course," he continued, "the cheque was no good, but he wasn't to know that. The luck turned and I got my cheque 支援する the same night, so you can see that I'm する権利を与えるd to a little 尊敬（する）・点 and preferential 治療."

He yawned again.

"I'm very tired," he continued. "I'm afraid I've been overworking myself lately. What with one thing and another—"

His 発言する／表明する petered out wearily and he curled up in his 一面に覆う／毛布 and lay still.

For a long time George never spoke. His 麻薬を吸う had 中止するd to glow. At length he tapped me on the arm.

"Why do you want to bother yourself about getting that boy a 職業?" he queried in a husky 発言する／表明する. "Why don't you just turn him loose on the community?"

"Too insecure," I sighed. "The time would come when he would have to leave the country, and then where would I be? Besides, you may think him shrewd, but I know him. He's young, he's had no experience, baited 罠（にかける）s gape for him, and he's dying to 落ちる in."

"What sort of 罠（にかける）s?"

"Women."

"Ar, there you go again!" said George disgustedly. "Why don't you get a 離婚?"

"Just what I'm trying to 避ける," I 反対するd. "Remember, too, that Agatha is your sister, George."

"I ain't forgetting it. That's why you've got my sympathy. What's wrong with getting a 離婚?"

"The 別居手当，扶養料, George. The 別居手当，扶養料!" I exclaimed. "And the publicity. Supposing the 法廷，裁判所 awarded her three 続けざまに猛撃するs a week—Stanley won't 支払う／賃金 it! And think of the 指名する of the Gudgeons 存在 connected with sordid 離婚 訴訟／進行s, in the 圧力（をかける）."

"H'm. And think of your photo on the 前線 page of the Sunday TRUTH."

"Yes, yes," I murmured. "There's something in that; I take rather a good photo. I've got one at home, George, that I must show you. I've got my 宿泊する regalia on and I'm standing with one 手渡す on my hip and the other, like this."

I showed him as best I could in the dark.

"It's a 十分な-length picture," I 結論するd.

"If we ever get out of this, you can show it to me," said George. "I'd like to have a 十分な-length photograph taken of myself."

"Not with your 高さ," I 訂正するd gently. "You'd have to be taken as a group, unless you lay 負かす／撃墜する and let them make a panorama of you."

"They ain't going to make no paramour out of me—!"

"Panorama, George."

"井戸／弁護士席, they needn't think just because I come from the country that they can make me a piano-rammer!" he 宣言するd hotly.

"Now, now, George! Don't be 迅速な tempered and raise your 発言する／表明する. You'll wake Stanley."

He 沈下するd, 不平（をいう）ing.

I filled my 麻薬を吸う again.

"タバコ, George?" I 問い合わせd, 申し込む／申し出ing him my pouch.

"No," he said sulkily. "I'm going to sleep."

"Give me a match before you go," I requested.

The grey fingers of a 冷淡な 夜明け were clawing their way through the 閉めだした windows. Cocks crowed in 近づく and distant barnyards. Crowed and listened. And from over the hills and far away （機の）カム the answer. The mournful hour before the sunrise stretched its clammy length over the country. The wheelbarrow was faintly 明白な, and the sergeant's precious 押し進める-bike. Two 一面に覆う／毛布-enveloped forms lay motionless beside me, and the earth sighed and shut its 注目する，もくろむs for just a little longer. Never have I felt more alone nor more despondent. Truly, man that is born of woman hath but a short time to live and is 十分な of 悲しみ. He cometh up as a flower and has his 長，率いる knocked off by an idle switch from the careless 茎 of 運命／宿命. He cometh up as a flower and is trodden on. He cometh up as a flower and is 削減（する）, bunched and sent off to the hospital to wilt in an atmosphere of iodoform and 悲惨.

Ah, the little worries of life! The little ones! The little ones! Stanley needed a mother's guiding 手渡す. He had become unmanageable since the home had been broken up. What had the 未来 in 蓄える／店 for him? And what for me? Would I, in 未来 years, gaze from the window of the Old Men's Home and wonder, "Where is my wild 植民地の boy to-night?"

Somewhere out in the world the first sunbeam of the day was rippling along the 最高の，を越すs of the wheat. Birds twittered. やめる の近くに, a chain 動揺させるd as a dog 現れるd .from his kennel and shuddered off his lethargy. A tree that grew outside the window of the 独房, shook out its dewy leaves to 乾燥した，日照りの in the breze. A horse clopped by in clinking-harness. A bucket clattered. Someone was singing...

I fell asleep.

CHAPTER XX

Something was 軽く押す／注意を引くing in the ribs and I 押し進めるd it away. It （機の）カム 支援する and butted me. It was the policeman's boot.

"Now come on out of that!" he bellowed. "Up with you! It's nine o'clock and the sergeant will be here any minute."

"倍の up your 一面に覆う／毛布s," he 追加するd, and walked away, leaving the 独房 door open and the sunlight streaming through.

"Stanley," I moaned, staggering to my feet, "倍の up my 一面に覆う／毛布s."

Without a murmur of 反対, he caught 持つ／拘留する of them and 開始するd.

That was some 指示，表示する物 of how he felt.

George swayed out into the yard, rubbing his 注目する，もくろむs.

"Water in the 戦車／タンク," bawled the constable from the cottage, "bucket in the corner, wash yourself, look smart, breakfast here, cost you a shilling each."

"Breakfast a shilling each?" echoed George in a puzzled 発言する／表明する.

I filled the bucket with （疑いを）晴らす, chilly water from the 戦車／タンク and ducked my 長，率いる into it. Blowing rainbow-coloured spray, I 現れるd in time to hear the constable's "Hurry up before the sergeant comes."

"He seems to be afraid of this sergeant," I 発言／述べるd.

"Come away from that bucket," said George sourly.

I 乾燥した，日照りのd myself on my handkerchief and the lining of George's coat and watched the constable arranging a number of 厚い slices of bread and golden syrup on 最高の，を越す of an 上昇傾向d バーレル／樽.

"Three shillings," he 需要・要求するd, turning to me.

I paid him.

"Want some milk?" he 問い合わせd in a pleasanter トン.

"Yes, please."

"A shilling."

He brought out about half a gallon of milk from the cottage and the three of us stood around the バーレル／樽 and breakfasted in the 日光. The bread was 厚い but fresh, the milk was 冷淡な but pure. I have tasted worse breakfasts. We were squatting against the 盗品故買者, smoking, when the constable 現れるd, fully dressed and shaved.

"Come on," he 命令（する）d, waving us toward the cottage.

"Speak civil to the sergeant," he whispered as we とじ込み／提出するd through the doorway, "さもなければ he'll make it bad for you and the J.P. will give you six months each."

"Words of 慰安," muttered Stanley.

We lined up before the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する in the little office. The sergeant was poring over some papers and the 最高の，を越す of his 大規模な 長，率いる was grey.

"Six 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金s," he muttered.

He looked up. A smile 夜明けd on his fat, red 直面する.

"God prisarve us!" he exclaimed. "If ut ain't little George!"

George grinned, blushed, and 延長するd his 手渡す.

"Didn't know you were in these parts, Mr O'道具," he stammered.

"井戸／弁護士席! 井戸／弁護士席! 井戸／弁護士席!" said the sergeant, leaning 支援する in his 議長，司会を務める. "Yer gettin' more like yer ould father ivery day!"

He 倍のd his 手渡すs on his stomach and beamed delightedly at George. George grinned 支援する and Stanley kicked me on the ankle.

"Phwat are the 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金s aginst the gintleman!"

"Breaking and entering, loitering..."

"Soilence man!" roared the sergeant. "A foin mimber of the foorce ye are! Can't ye see this gintleman is a gintleman!"

The constable shrugged his shoulders.

"Be off with ye and nail up the fince!" growled the sergeant disgustedly. He turned again to George.

"Y'know, George; they sint that feller up to me from Sydney and not an ounce av since has he got. He's been nothin' but an eyesore to me since he （機の）カム here. The first day he arrives, phwat must he do but go and knock me 押し進める-bike over!"

I brought up a gasp of horror.

"Indade, he did!" exclaimed the sergeant, swinging in his 議長，司会を務める に向かって me. I shook my 長，率いる sorrowfully.

"A beautiful bike like that! 押し進めるd it in the dirt, eh!"

"押し進めるd it in the dhirt, he did! You're a frind of George's, I suppose?" he 追加するd kindly.

"I'm his brother-in-法律," I explained. "This young chap is Stanley, his 甥."

"井戸／弁護士席, 井戸／弁護士席, 井戸／弁護士席," he muttered softly. "George's father and me （機の）カム out in the same boat whin we was bhoys togither."

He 星／主役にするd at George as though trying to see his father in him.

"Ah, 井戸／弁護士席," he sighed. "Ye'd better come over with me and have 病弱な, gintlemen. I'll never be seein' yer father inny more, George."

"You stay here, sonny," he 追加するd as Stanley 用意が出来ている to follow us. "The houtel is no place for little bhoys. 直す／買収する，八百長をする up yer モーター-cycle."

We とじ込み／提出するd out of the room behind him, leaving Stanley to think over the 侮辱. The town was a mere blister on the main road over which we had travelled the previous night. It had an ice-作品, a garage, a blacksmith's shop, two general 蓄える／店s and four hotels. I should say that the 全住民 would 許す five persons to each hotel. One of those 静める, 静かな, sunny places where people stop to say good day to each other and only hurry when there's a dog fight on. Sergeant O'道具 知らせるd us that the town had once been 繁栄するing and had shown 調印するs of becoming a second New York but the 鉄道 had コースを変えるd the traffic from the road and now the place was a mere backward village where 進歩 and the community spirit was so dead that nobody ever got 逮捕（する）d.

The sergeant was inclined to be a little morbid about George's father. I gathered that the 年上の Weldon had migrated from Ireland in company with the sergeant and had landed in Sydney 十分な of hope and ship's 薄焼きパン／素焼陶器s and 妊娠している with 可能性s. Together at first, they drifted apart after a few years and Weldon got married to the woman who was now George's mother and my mother-in-法律. 運命／宿命 had relented some years later and 解放（する）d him from his bondage and Sergeant O'道具 had gone to his funeral. It was all very sad. George 申し込む／申し出d to 支払う／賃金 for the 盗品故買者 and Sergeant O'道具, 辞退するing with 深い emotion 宣言するd that the son of Patrick Weldon could knock the police-駅／配置する 負かす／撃墜する and he would regard it as an honour.

We returned to the police-駅／配置する 感染させるd by the sergeant's mournfulness. Stanley 約束d to have the モーター-cycle 修理d in a few hours with the 援助 of the garage man, and we lunched with O'道具.

We 出発／死d 残念に at two o'clock in the afternoon, and the sergeant in a husky 発言する／表明する told George that any time he liked to 減少（する） in and bring his friends the police-駅／配置する 盗品故買者 would always be up, waiting for us. The constable told me 個人として that he wished to heaven he could go 支援する to Sydney with us, and shook 手渡すs.

Almost, I was sorry to leave. Seated in the 味方する-car with George またがるd across me, I wondered how long I would 生き残る the machinations of Woggo Slatter's ギャング（団） in Sydney. As we 急ぐd along the road, we were leaving behind us a place of quietness and peace where the cows browsed placidly on the footpaths and even the 飛行機で行くs buzzed in a minor 重要な. And for what were we leaving it? For a roar and a shriek and the sound of hurrying feet. 支援する to the smoke and the clatter and the pale 直面するs. 支援する to the place of 雷 shaves, half-eaten breakfasts, bundy clocks, and stand-up 昼食s.

進歩 we call it, this manifestation of group lunacy. What is the use of all this vaunted 進歩? Jones builds a bungalow with a 事情に応じて変わる roof, rotary 床に打ち倒すs, disappearing gate, electric window-wipers and an (a)自動的な／(n)自動拳銃 bath-room and thinks he has said the last word. But he hasn't.

Smith comes to light with an aeroplane catapult on the roof, escalators to the 前線 door, a 回転するing porch, illuminated keyholes and a 詩（を作る） from the Koran inscribed on his door-mat. So 決定するd are we to live as の近くに as possible to the stench of 商売／仕事 that we live on 最高の，を越す of each other in flats and have to wait our turn to cross the road. What is the use of it all? How much deader than a dead stockbroker is a dead potato-grower, when all is said and done?

Had it not been for the fact that I cannot 耐える the dullness of the country, I would have ordered Stanley to turn around and go 支援する.

We travelled along in a conversationless silence which, though partly 施行するd by the noise of the cycle and the disposition of its 乗客s, was, for my part, both voluntary and welcome. The three of us were tired. My 団体／死体 ached from the 揺さぶるing of the 味方する-car and it was an 成果／努力 to keep my 長，率いる from wobbling as we bounded over the ruts. I longed for home and a bath and 残り／休憩（する）.

It was six o'clock before we 一連の会議、交渉／完成するd Flannery's corner and （機の）カム in sight of the house.

"The door's open," said Stanley, 加速するing.

We swept around in a curve opposite the house, leapt the kerb, clattered over the flattened 盗品故買者 and 揺さぶるd on to the veranda. George fell out and the engine stopped.

"Dammit!" 悪口を言う／悪態d Stanley. "We could have gone straight in through the door. We'll have to 押し進める the thing now."

I clambered out and together we 解除するd it over the step and 押し進めるd it into the 前線 bedroom.

"Cup of tea," 示唆するd George in a tired 発言する／表明する.

We 追跡するd dejectedly out to the kitchen.

Agatha and Gertrude were seated at the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, their hats on, their 手渡す-捕らえる、獲得するs in their （競技場の）トラック一周s.

"We were just going, when we heard you," said Agatha.

"Don't let us stop you," I replied.

I was too 疲れた／うんざりした to be even mildly surprised at their presence.

"How are you, George?" said Gertrude, coldly.

"All 権利. How are you?"

"All 権利."

"How are you, Agatha?" said George.

"All 権利."

Conversation lapsed.

Stanley groaned loudly.

"What's the 事柄, Stanley?" queried Agatha, anxiously.

"Tea!" he murmured piteously. "Make me some tea."

He 沈下するd on the 床に打ち倒す, moaning softly.

Agatha rose あわてて to her feet.

"Is he sick?"

"He will be if he doesn't soon have some tea and something to eat," I replied, ひさまづくing and patting Stanley on the shoulder.

"Where's the kettle?" 需要・要求するd Agatha, 除去するing her hat.

"In the bath-room," murmured Stanley weakly. "The teapot is on 最高の，を越す of the wardrobe in my room."

"Go and get them, Gertrude," she requested.

"Let that 広大な／多数の／重要な, useless hulk go and get them," snapped Gertrude, jerking her 長，率いる at me.

"Go on, dad," pleaded Stanley.

I put my を引き渡す my 注目する，もくろむs, tottered a few steps and fell into George's 武器. Gertrude 匂いをかぐd.

"You'd better go and get them, Gert," said Agatha. "The other one is getting ready to swoon too."

George lowered me gently to the 床に打ち倒す.

"I'll go," he said, and trudged off up the stairs.

"The pair of you can get up now," snapped Gertrude. "Agatha will get your tea ready and there is no necessity for the theatricals. No one will ask you to do anything."

George returned with the kettle and teapot and Agatha 始める，決める about 準備するing a meal. In utter silence she 用意が出来ている it, while we watched her. She was enjoying herself. Pottering about with the kettle gave her an 適切な時期 to 陳列する，発揮する her 甘い, 許すing disposition. I have noticed this in women, that they 前向きに／確かに glory in 陳列する，発揮するing a long-苦しむing meekness in the 直面する of imagined wrongs. They do it in the hopes of embarrassing the male. They wail of their sacrifices, they 令状 about it in 調書をとる／予約するs, one sees it on the 審査する—"the woman always 支払う／賃金s."

Yet there is not a woman of them who wouldn't walk miles to be in at a sacrifice. The woman who can't get in 適切な時期 to sacrifice herself, is a woman 妨害するd. She will start an argument with a man just so she may tell her women friends what a hell of a time she has with her husband, and 行為／法令／行動する the downtrodden 殉教者 一般に. I have heard of a woman living in Woolloornooloo who, on 見解（をとる）ing the bruises of the other wives in the terrace, 強襲，強姦d her husband in the hopes of getting bruised. The husband was a man of 許すing temperament and in desperation she pinched herself all over and 現れるd triumphantly the next morning before an admiring （人が）群がる of other 女性（の） 殉教者s.

I was able to watch Agatha at work without any of the qualms which いっそう少なく experienced men might have felt. I know women. Know one of them and you know all of them. Of course, there are remarkable differences in women, but they can he に例えるd to モーター-cars. Different models, different 質s, but they all work by means of 内部の 燃焼. The 原則 is the same.

We ate the meal in silence. Neither Gertrude nor Agatha spoke a word. I was puzzled by their 抑制 and astonished at this 陳列する，発揮する of will 力／強力にする. The fox gnawing at the bosom of the Spartan boy could not have been more painful than the unspoken questions clawing for utterance in the minds of the two women. I could see in their 直面するs that they were 燃やすing with curiosity. Where had we been? What was George doing with us? Had we been out all night? Who were the two men who had laid out their 私立探偵s? Who were the two women?

The mental agony must have been excruciating, yet they sat tight-lipped until we had finished.

Stanley went to his room, sick, as usual in 事例／患者s like this.

George, making sure of things, said he had an 任命 and went out. I was left alone.

"井戸／弁護士席," I said, taking my towel and soap out of the stove, "I suppose you people can amuse yourselves somehow until I get 支援する. I must get cleaned now. I have very important 商売／仕事 in town."

"As a 事柄 of fact," I 追加するd, ちらりと見ることing at the clock, "I'm late now."

"Of course," said Agatha, "it is not for me to 問い合わせ your 目的地, nor to be 熟知させるd of your comings and goings. 存在 単に your wife—ha-ha—I do not, of course, 推定する／予想する any consideration from you. It is not for me to complain that my life has been 難破させるd by a lazy, lying, drunken, good-for-nothing brute. Ha-ha—do not for a moment think that I have forgotten my position in your 計画／陰謀 of things. Far be it from me that I should even dream of 告発する／非難するing you of 毒（薬）ing Stanley's mind against me and dragging him with you into a cesspool of 副／悪徳行為. Ha-ha—no! But still, if you could spare me a few minutes of your so very 価値のある time, I am sure you will not find me 欠如（する）ing in 感謝. I am fully aware that your time must be taken up with your lady friends and your drinking orgies. That, of course, is 非，不，無 of my 商売／仕事. Ha-ha—no. Never has been. But if you will condescend to listen to me for a few moments..."

She paused for breath.

"What's that you were 説?" I asked, turning away from the stove.

Her nostrils 解除するd slowly like the wings of a bat and her eyeballs bulged. 一連の会議、交渉／完成する one had gone to me.

"You might have known, Agatha," said Gertrude, "that it would be やめる useless to 推定する／予想する the smallest 儀礼 from this thing calling itself your husband. How you can 耐える to speak to him, I do not know. His very presence is repulsive to me."

She shrugged her shoulders in a 現実主義の shudder.

I filled my 麻薬を吸う slowly and carefully. I know of nothing more maddening to a woman than the spectacle of a man filling his 麻薬を吸う while she is 試みる／企てるing to goad him.

"You carry your forbearance too far, dearie," she said, patting Agatha who had covered her 直面する with her handkerchief and was heaving her shoulders up and 負かす／撃墜する.

I lit my 麻薬を吸う and leaned 支援する in my 議長，司会を務める with my feet up on the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する.

"Poor dear," she went on, "to think that he should have taken you from your mother's home when you were an innocent girl, and brought you..."

"Here!" I cried. "Who did this? Tell me!" I 需要・要求するd, taking my feet off the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する.

"Did what?" snapped Gertrude.

"Took her when she was an innocent girl," I replied.

Gertrude leapt to her feet.

"Give me that filthy 麻薬を吸う!" she panted, and snatched it from my mouth.

"There!" she said, throwing it out the window.

I searched the mantelpiece, 設立する another 麻薬を吸う, and sat 負かす／撃墜する.

"You will have your little joke," I sighed, "but I wish you would remember that I am a busy man. What is it you 手配中の，お尋ね者 to see me about? Of course, it is not for me—ha-ha—no, not for me to..."

"Shut up!" 叫び声をあげるd Agatha.

I could see that the pair of them were at the end of their tethers and looked like dragging their mooring-地位，任命するs 負かす／撃墜する, so I 開始するd once more to fill my 麻薬を吸う, whistling softly the while.

"Listen to me," muttered Gertrude in a low, 厳しい 発言する／表明する. "Agatha, as you perhaps know, ーするつもりであるs to 離婚 you. We have decided on that."

"Have we?" I queried.

"I have advised Agatha to 解放する／自由な herself of you," she explained in a 発言する／表明する that trembled. "Having been brought up in a good family she considers it beneath her to 秘かに調査する on you, although, heaven knows, she has 蓄積するd 十分な 証拠 during her married life to 安全な・保証する a hundred 離婚s."

I nodded pleasantly.

"However, we have thought it advisable, in order that there may be no hitch in the 離婚 訴訟／進行s, to give you the 適切な時期 of 供給するing indubitable grounds for 離婚."

"And then you can carry on to your heart's content," sobbed Agatha.

"I'm speaking," said Gertrude coldly. "Please 許す me to 取引，協定 with this."

"Oh, go on," I pleaded, "let her have a say."

"Mother has agreed to 支払う／賃金 all 合法的な expenses," continued Gertrude, "and has even given Agatha five 続けざまに猛撃するs to give to you so that you will not stint yourself in 供給（する）ing the 証拠."

"Five 続けざまに猛撃するs!" I exclaimed. "Why, I couldn't even get started on five 続けざまに猛撃するs!"

"You managed very 井戸／弁護士席 on your pocket-money when I was living with you," whimpered Agatha.

"Please!" cried Gertrude 厳しく.

"I will say something if I want to!" 宣言するd Agatha, glaring defiantly over the 最高の，を越す of her handkerchief.

"Now, now," I admonished. "No fighting. Let one have it."

"Any one would think it was she who was getting the 離婚," said Agatha indignantly.

"やめる 権利, my love," I replied. "You tell Jackie all about it."

Gertrude 匂いをかぐd like a suddenly 削減（する） off steam jet.

"That is all I have to say," she snapped. "I put myself to 広大な／多数の／重要な inconvenience, thinking to help a 確かな person and this is how I am 扱う／治療するd."

She rose from her 議長，司会を務める.

"One moment before you both hurry away to your—er—任命s," I said. "I regard your suggestion favourably, but there are one or two little drawbacks. First, there is the 事柄 of 別居手当，扶養料."

"Your generosity will not be 課すd upon," replied Gertrude coldly.

"I would find it hard indeed to 受託する 維持／整備 money from you," put in Agatha in a haughty 発言する／表明する.

"I'd find it very hard to give it to you," I replied.

"What is the other drawback?" 需要・要求するd Gertrude.

"The five 続けざまに猛撃するs."

"What about it?"

"Make it ten," I replied. "It's no use half-doing the thing."

"Very 井戸／弁護士席," she 同意d with another shudder.

"I must go," she 追加するd. "The 空気／公表する is tainted. Come, Agatha."

"井戸／弁護士席, where is it?" I asked, に引き続いて them up the hallway.

"Where is what?"

"The tenner."

"It will be 地位，任命するd to you, you low beast," hissed Gertrude.

"売春婦!" I cried. "Nice pair of high-souled 存在s, you are! You come here asking a man to 物々交換する his honour away for ten 続けざまに猛撃するs, to 法外な his blameless life in sin, to 服従させる／提出する to having the 指名する of a proud family dragged in the 苦境に陥る for ten 続けざまに猛撃するs—and then you won't を引き渡す the money!"

I was astounded and disgusted at their total 欠如（する） of ordinary decency. It was driven into my mind at the time, that one never knows to what despicable trickery a woman will 訴える手段／行楽地, until some occurrence like this one lays 明らかにする her paltry soul in all its hideousness.

They 急いでd to the door as though I were a viper.

"Very 井戸／弁護士席," I called after them, "I will take no 活動／戦闘 until I receive the money—and remember, the more the money, the better the 活動／戦闘."

The door slammed and I walked 支援する to the kitchen, suddenly aware that I was tired to the point of exhaustion.

A footstep sounded softly on the stairs.

"Have they gone?" （機の）カム a low whisper.

"Yes, Stanley, they have gone, after making the most dishonourable suggestion I have ever heard."

"Yes, I heard it," said Stanley, 現れるing into the light. "I was sitting at the 最高の，を越す of the stairs."

"For ten 続けざまに猛撃するs!" I exclaimed 激しく.

"By gee, yes!" said Stanley in a hushed 発言する／表明する. "I didn't think ma was like that. A 哀れな ten 続けざまに猛撃するs!"

I shook my 長，率いる. I was disillusioned.

"Where's Uncle George?" 問い合わせd Stanley. "That'll be him," he 追加するd as a low knock sounded at the door.

I went and let George in.

"Have they gone?" he whispered.

I nodded.

"I thought I saw them going up the road but I wasn't sure. I was standing in that little 小道／航路 at the 味方する of Flannery's and I couldn't see very 井戸／弁護士席 from there. My crikeys, how did you get on?"

I gave him the gist of the discussion.

"Fancy them having the 神経 to 申し込む／申し出 you ten 続けざまに猛撃するs!" he exclaimed.

"That's what 傷つけるs," I complained 激しく.

"Why, I wouldn't take it if they 申し込む／申し出d me a thousand," he 宣言するd. "They must think you've got no 原則."

Stanley smiled at me, and patted George on the shoulder.

"Come on, uncle," he said. "Come to bed."

CHAPTER XXI

Days passed, during which I waited in vain for a 登録（する）d letter from Agatha. I even went up the street and peered 負かす／撃墜する the drain, thinking that perhaps the postman may have thoughtlessly 性質の／したい気がして of it.

I was not 現実に in need of money, thanks to my own thrift and George's generosity, but ten 続けざまに猛撃するs is ten 続けざまに猛撃するs. Although, as I explained to George after three or four days had elapsed, I would rather have died than 受託する it. One has one's honour to consider and as I have said before, the Gudgeons are a proud family. We are a noble family. The 指名する, Gudgeon, is a 汚職, or rather, a 近代化 of the 初めの Good John or John the Good. I am not sure whether the 初めの John the Good was really King John, or John the Baptist. 十分である it to say that the Gudgeons were nobles when William the 征服者／勝利者 and his ギャング（団） were still in short pants. It would ill become a 子孫 of such a family to lower his 基準 of 行為／行う by even so little as an インチ. I told Stanley that if they did send me the ten 続けざまに猛撃するs I would すぐに send it 支援する, and he agreed that this was the best thing to do. As he 発言／述べるd, we could 持つ／拘留する out for twenty.

We were 事実上 in a 明言する／公表する of 包囲. Twice, Woggo had called at the house, leaving five or six retired pugilists to wait for him on the pavement while he knocked and kicked at the door and 招待するd us to come outside. The human detectophones in the opposite terrace enjoyed the spectacle immensely, some of them 涙／ほころびing their window-curtains 負かす／撃墜する ーするために get a better 見解（をとる）. The 状況／情勢 was most humiliating. Stanley had discovered some secret 大勝する whereby he could escape from the house unseen and he, I think, spent most of his time with the girl Estelle.

George fretted a 広大な／多数の／重要な 取引，協定 at his confinement and にもかかわらず my たびたび（訪れる） 警告s that he was a 示すd man, こそこそ動くd off whenever he could to the 地元の picture-show. He had a passion for pictures, 特に the 高度に emotional 肉親，親類d. His 長，指導者 （民事の）告訴 was that out of the seventy-four scenes in which the villain struggled with the virtuous ヘロイン, not one had been 満足な. In each 事例／患者 the hero arrived after the ヘロイン had lost a 選び出す／独身 shoulder-ひもで縛る. Nothing worse ever happened. He could not understand why the hero should burst into the lonely cabin after the girl and the villain had been struggling for hours, and why the girl always leaned against the 塀で囲む with her hair over her 注目する，もくろむs, 持つ／拘留するing one shoulder-ひもで縛る up. He 宣言するd that any one who could get no さらに先に than a mere 涙／ほころびing of blouses was no villain. Hope springs eternal, and George continued to patronize the 動議-picture theatres in the hope of seeing a real villain with pep in him who would 乱打する the ヘロイン into insensibility and then 涙／ほころび the cabin apart.

I was left alone a 広大な／多数の／重要な 取引，協定 and except for 時折の furtive visits to Flannery's, life for me was bounded by four 塀で囲むs of the house, In such circumstances it was 必然的な that I should brood. I am 特に 支配する to melancholia. Left alone, 悲惨 romps all over me. My thoughts had been with Agatha during the past few days, and I had begun to think kindly of her. It is curious how a man can think his way into these moods. In my earlier days, I have, with all the wily enthusiasm of 青年, told women that they were wonderful and that I loved them. Kept on telling them and tried hard to look as if I meant it. And if the 事件／事情／状勢 lasted the requisite number of weeks—behold! I did love them! 事実上 talked myself into it! How many, many liars have 納得させるd themselves! That's how I （機の）カム to marry Agatha, anyhow. Perhaps it was by this 自動車-suggestive method that I had become more kindly 性質の／したい気がして に向かって her; looking 支援する, I can see that it must have been. George and Stanley should not have left me so much alone. Though I will say this much for Agatha, she is a good woman. That is, of course, as far as I know. I don't think she has that 開拓する spirit that is always 炎ing new 追跡するs. Although it's hard to say whether she has or she hasn't. One never knows. I am something of a 開拓する myself, but I don't know about Agatha. Men will be men but women take some time to （不足などを）補う their minds.

Agatha is somewhere about thirty-eight. Not an unattractive age. Not at all unattractive.

I thought a lot about that.

My mind hovered balefully around Gertrude. She had always been the hair in the soup. She 押し進めるd her way into my married life when Stanley was born. His mother bore him then and I have borne him ever since, but that is beside the point. Gertrude it was who took 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 of Stanley when he was a baby. She took 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 of the house and Agatha after a while; she is that sort of woman—ears, tongue and advice. She tried to take 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 of me. That was the beginning of the 憎悪 that still rankles, beneath her brassiere. She "washed her 手渡すs" of me then and I have been washed off her 手渡すs ever since. She cultivated the habit of taking Agatha aside and advising her, pointing out さまざまな 半端物s and ends that might be worthy of 疑惑. It was she who taught Agatha to 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑う me. I'd have been 安全な only for her.

Still, if it had not been for Gertrude I should not have known Flannery half so 井戸／弁護士席 as I do. Agatha would have been a contented wife if it had not been for Gertrude, I thought. She really was a good wife, in a way. She could make pea-soup to a degree of excellence that has never been より勝るd on land or sea. I like pea-soup. Then she always kept the house clean and tidy, there was always a clean collar for me when I 手配中の，お尋ね者 it and she managed Stanley somehow without 流血／虐殺.

When Stanley and George were home they continually 勧めるd me to go ahead with the 離婚; Stanley 特に. He saw, or thought he did, an 適切な時期 for indulgence in a celebratory saturnalia in my company, with my 許可 and at my expense.

It may have been obstinacy, or perhaps I resented their 干渉，妨害 in my 事件／事情／状勢s, anyhow I decided to visit Agatha and try to make it up with her. I について言及するd it to neither of them but waited until they were both out and then phoned for a の近くにd-in car and with all blinds drawn, proceeded to Chatswood. It was the silliest thing I have ever done in my life.

CHAPTER XXII

Chatswood is one of those places that are a 石／投石する's throw from some other place, and is おもに given over to the 真面目に genteel. Here, respectability stalks abroad adorned with starched linen and surrounded by mortgages. The clatter of lawn-mowers can be heard for miles on any sunny Saturday. Sunday evenings, the stillness of death descends on the place, but if one listens very attentively one may hear the 捨てるing of hundreds of chewed pens as they travel the 疲れた／うんざりした road of 原則 and 利益／興味 and 支払う／賃金-off-as-rent.

Agatha's mother's home tucked its lawns about its feet and withdrew somewhat from the 正規の／正選手 line of houses in the street. It had been paid for. My mother-in-法律's 長，指導者 占領／職業s were 令状ing letters of （民事の）告訴 to the 地方自治体の 会議, and calling upon God to look at our socalled democratic 政府 and blight it. She also laid a few baits for the 隣人s' dogs, kept a strict 注目する，もくろむ on the morals of the whole street, and lopped off any 支店, twig or tendril which thrust itself from the nextdoor garden over the 盗品故買者 and so trespassed on her 所有物／資産／財産. What spare time she had left was used up by さまざまな communings with God about the water-率s, and the only really light work she indulged in was when she seated herself behind the window-curtain and watched for small boys who might be tempted to 動揺させる sticks along the 前線 盗品故買者. Altogether, she was a busy woman. And then, of course, there was the parrot. The parrot was also an 対抗者 of 政府s, 悪口を言う／悪態d the 地方自治体の 会議, squawked miserably over the water-率s and was withal 高度に 宗教的な. Whether this spiritless subservience to 地元の opinion was 予定 to 軍隊 of example or 単に a 願望（する） for a 静かな life, I do not know. In this description of my mother-in-法律's 方式 of life I think I have written with a 確かな 量 of tolerant 抑制. She is an old lady and the age of chivalry is not dead while a Gudgeon lives. Perhaps a different son-in-法律 might have 述べるd her as a senseless, whining, nagging, leather-直面するd old whitlow not fit to cohabit with a rhinoceros beetle. But wouldn't.

Arriving at the house, I paused. The lawn needed mowing. I crossed the road and stood regarding the place. That the grass of the 前線 lawn needed mowing may seern a very little thing and not 十分な to make any one pause, but I had bitter memories of my infrequent visits to this place in my earlier days. I would enter and be given a cup of tea, then—"Ha! Now we have a man in the house."

In other words: "Ha! Here is a work-beast. Let him paint the 道具-shed; let him mend the wheelbarrow; bring out the hedge-clippers and the lawn-mower and point out to him the 場所 of the axe and the woodheap."

That, of course, would be when I was comparatively welcome.

And now?

As I gazed across at the place, a window-curtain quivered. I had been seen. I could not now 退却／保養地 with dignity so I crossed the road, took a 深い breath, and knocked at the door. Wiping my feet industriously on the mat, I waited. I could imagine the scurryings and the whisperings that were going on inside. I knocked again. I had 推定する／予想するd this sort of thing, and after waiting a few moments longer I turned and made for the gate as though about to leave. The 戦略 was successful. The door opened a few インチs and the hideous beak of my mother-in-法律 protruded from the gap.

"井戸／弁護士席," she snapped, "what do you want?"

I doffed my bowler.

"I've come to see my wife."

"You've come to see your wife, have you?"

"Yes, ma."

"S'nmmph!"

Just like Gertrude.

"Supposing I don't 許す you to see her? Supposing I forbid you to enter my house. Supposing I 始める，決める the dog on you!"

"In that 事例／患者," I replied, taking another step toward the gate, "I think I'll go."

"You just come inside here!" she whinnied, flinging the door open.

"Come inside at once, my 罰金 gentleman!"

I went in, like the fool that I was.

"Sit there," she 命令（する）d, pointing to a 議長，司会を務める at the 製図／抽選-room （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する.

"Now then," she said, seating herself opposite me, "explain to me, please, if you can—if you can, why my daughter comes to me in 涙／ほころびs for my 保護. Who are these low women whose company you prefer and why is it that after 存在 drunk for 事実上 every day of your life and ill-扱う／治療するing and 餓死するing Agatha, my daughter—my daughter, mind you, who has had a better しつけ than the whole of your ありふれた Gudgeon relations put together and the Lord God on high who watches over His lambs knows what it cost me to bring up my girls, the sacrifices I have made, the money I've spent; me, a poor 孤独な old woman who has had to struggle and pinch to keep a roof over my 長，率いる and 支払う／賃金ing for this and for that, and the 会議 wanting me to 支払う／賃金 for the drains—me, mind you; an old woman who has hardly enough to keep 団体／死体 and soul together, 支払う／賃金ing for their filthy drains. I never asked for drains. Why should I? What do I want with drains at my time of life? Calling themselves aldermen—"

"They'll never get a penny out of me! They'll never get a penny out of me!" shrieked the parrot scuttling into the room excitedly. I sank 支援する into my 議長，司会を務める and fumbled in a hopeless manner for my 麻薬を吸う as the bird ぱたぱたするd on to the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する.

"And you," continued my mother-in-法律, 回復するing from the interruption. "You have the audacity, the impudence, the—the—"

"Hyperbollicality?" I 示唆するd. It was the best I could think of at the time.

"The brazen impertinence to come here and ask to see my daughter. I'd rather see her dead and in her 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な!"

The parrot scuffled feverishly up and 負かす／撃墜する the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する.

"Call this a 政府!" it 需要・要求するd hoarsely.

"Look here, ma," I said. "It's this way—"

"Don't 'ma' me! Don't try any of your soft snivelling ways with me, my soft-soaping gentleman!"

"But, listen—."

"Listen! Oh, yes, listen to him! just listen to him!"

"I （機の）カム here to see Agatha!" I shouted, 強くたたくing the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する. I was becoming annoyed.

"Don't you raise your 発言する／表明する to me!" squeaked the old lady, clawing the 空気／公表する.

The parrot was almost frantic with excitement. It staggered drunkenly up and 負かす／撃墜する the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する between us, shrieking of 政府s, of 地方自治体の 会議s, of poor, 孤独な women, and the mercy of God.

"Where is Agatha!" I shouted, rising and jamming my hat over one 注目する，もくろむ.

"Not a penny!" shrieked the parrot. "Call this a 政府! Take that 支援する, I won't have it! This is your 会議 for you! Milko! Call this—"

I swiped it off the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する and it struck the 床に打ち倒す and lay 傾向がある, frothing at the beak.

"Gertrude!" 叫び声をあげるd the old woman. "Police! Gertrude! Unchain the dog! He's killed my parrot!"

She 選ぶd the parrot up, and it croaked weakly, "This is your 会議 for you," and 中止するd to ぱたぱたする.

"You drunken beast!" hissed my mother-in-法律.

"That's all 権利," I replied. "You like your little 減少（する）, you old sponge."

"Get out of my house!"

"I'm going," I said.

As I made for the door I noticed for the first time that Agatha was in the room, regarding me with horrified amazement.

"'Lo, Agatha," I said, nodding pleasantly.

She covered her 直面する with her 手渡すs and dashed out of the room.

Almost すぐに after, a dog dashed in with Gertrude bringing up the 後部. I decided that it was best to leave and would have managed it easily only for getting caught on the 前線 gate. I 丸天井d it all 権利 but my coat caught on one of the pickets. The dog leapt the gate and （機の）カム at me with all 外部の appendages 簡素化するd and its teeth 明らかにするd for 商売／仕事. Just in time, I wrenched the picket off the 盗品故買者 and swiped it in midleap. It never yelped but fell 支援する on the pavement, breathing calmly. The three women 叫び声をあげるd on the 前線 lawn. I threw the picket through the largest pane of the 前線 window and hurried away. One dead parrot, one unconscious dog, one 破産した／（警察が）手入れするd 盗品故買者, one broken window. Not bad for one visit I thought as I bounded into the waiting taxi.

I was 静める, but I felt sickened with life. With the very best 意向s I had come, and in a にわか雨 of broken glass and dead parrot I had gone. And not through any fault of 地雷 had the 甘い spirit of forgiveness turned to ashes in the mouth. The proffered 手渡す of friendship had been 拒絶するd, and Charity was even now feeling her bruises and sobbing in the 武器 of her disillusioned sisters, 約束 and Hope. I am a man of 広大な experience and worldly knowledge and perhaps I should have passed over this rebuff with a shrug and a smile; but my better nature had been 負傷させるd. The アイロンをかける had entered my soul and no 約束-healer could help me unless he was also a blacksmith.

As I 揺さぶるd along in the taxi, too dashed in spirits to smoke, I felt that I understood why men 燃やすd their boats behind them, sold up their homes and went to Africa to 追跡（する） elephants.

It is the last 反抗 of a manly soul to quaff the bitter cup of 運命／宿命 and fling the dregs in its 直面する. How have I いつかs yearned to stand on a 頂点（に達する） where the 勝利，勝つd howled, and 明らかにする my teeth and laugh. Laugh! Or 運動 a ship through whistling spray into the very jaws of a 強風 while the 後援d 船の索具 thrashed on the heaving deck. And all that. To fling aside the petty considerations, the 条約s, the saving, the sordid cares, and hoist myself to a seat beside the gods in one wild, glorious burst.

I pulled up the blinds of the car and looked out. We were 近づくing home.

"Driver," I said, "do you know Flannery's?"

"Dance-hall, pub, or—"

"Pub," I replied あわてて.

"Can't say as I do."

"Don't know 法案 Flannery's 栄冠を与える and 錨，総合司会者!"

"Oh! That's the place that 供給（する）s the beer for Gudgeon's parties?"

"Yes," I replied, puzzled, "What do you know about Gudgeon?"

"Eh? Everybody knows about him. There's been letters in the papers about it and the Woollahra 会議 held a special 会合 about it. The 国民s' 改革（する） League want him 除去するd. He must be in with the police or that last party would have settled him."

"But, damn it all, man; we only ever had one party!"

"Are you Gudgeon?" he asked, 新たな展開ing his 長，率いる 権利 around.

"Look out for the footpath!" I 警告を与えるd him. "Yes, I'm Gudgeon. What about it?"

"Ain't you 脅すd to be seen out?" he asked admiringly. "Struth!" he went on, "when I read in the paper about your son holdin' off a ギャング（団） of 凶漢s while you got away, I said to meself, 'That's the finish of the pair of 'em; the ギャング（団）'ll get 'em sooner or later.' I wondered why you 手配中の，お尋ね者 the blinds pulled 負かす／撃墜する," he mused. "No 疑問 about it, us taxi blokes 選ぶ up some queer birds."

"Explain yourself," I 需要・要求するd, 開始するing to climb over into the 前線 seat. "No. 持つ／拘留する her! Stop!"

We had arrived at Flannery's corner.

"Care for a little gastronomic 転換?" I 問い合わせd, nodding toward the hotel.

"No," he replied. "I never touch the stuff; but I'll have a dot of whisky with you."

"Same thing," I 保証するd him.

"Oh, no it ain't. You wouldn't call drinkin' whisky a 転換, would you?"

"What is it then?" I asked, 押し進めるing the 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業 door open. "An 演習?"

"It's a 義務," he replied 厳しく. "Me father was Scotch."

"Hello, Jack," cried Flannery. "Go through into the saloon 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業. Stanley is in there with his uncle."

We continued on to the 私的な 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業 and seated ourselves at a little 一連の会議、交渉／完成する （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, opposite Stanley and George. We 迎える／歓迎するd each other and ordered our drinks.

"Stanley," I said, "do you know anything of 確かな 報告（する）／憶測s that have appeared in the 圧力（をかける） of late? Have you heard of a 確かな Stanley Gudgeon who heroically held off a ギャング（団） of 凶漢s while his father fled to safety?"

Stanley blushed.

"Aw, 井戸／弁護士席—" he 開始するd.

"Say no more," I put in wearily. "I understand."

"You see, dad. It was this way. This reporter feller comes up to me and says—he knows I'm 井戸／弁護士席 known at the Blue Garter—he says, 'Things are very dull today.' So of course, as the poor chap was only trying to earn a living I might as 井戸／弁護士席—"

"All 権利. All 権利. Have you been enjoying yourself, George?"

George giggled, made a few （犯罪の）一味s on the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する with his glass, and looked away.

"He's got a girl," explained Stanley.

"That reminds me!" exclaimed the taxi-driver. "I gotter get away." He rose and shook 手渡すs with me.

"Any time you've got a party on, let me know and I'll bring a carload of girls for you. All sports. Be glad to come meself. That's the phone number."

He flung a card 負かす／撃墜する on the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, waved his 手渡す, and left us.

"Handy sort of chap to know," 発言／述べるd Stanley. "Not that I'm short of a girl or two, but there are occasions when one hasn't time to 一連の会議、交渉／完成する them up. Better give me that card."

"You've become very sophisticated in the last few weeks, Stanley," I said.

"My 青年 is past," he replied with a sigh. "Look at Uncle George."

George was gazing into his glass with a soft sheep-grin on his 直面する, oblivious to everything.

"Who chose that 控訴 for you, George?" I asked, shaking his shoulder.

"Eh? Oh, she did. She bought me this shirt, too."

"Bought you a shirt, eh? 井戸／弁護士席, I'll 収容する／認める you've 避けるd the 分裂（する） 激しく揺する motif in your dress this time. It's a 広大な／多数の／重要な 改良. What's she like, George?"

I always think that in humouring a man who has made the 広大な／多数の／重要な Mistake, one should 可決する・採択する the トン usually 適用するd to children and half-wits. A man 適切に in love would be やめる 満足させるd to sit on a スピードを出す／記録につける sucking a pencil and thinking of the price of furniture.

"She's got yellow hair," stammered George reluctantly.

"That all?" I 問い合わせd, encouraging him.

"Blue 注目する，もくろむs," he 追加するd. "She bought me a shirt. She sewed a button on for me."

I shook my 長，率いる sadly.

"Tell me, George. Does she catch 持つ／拘留する of your coat lapels and look up at you? Does she 選ぶ little threads off your 控訴 in a motherly 肉親，親類d of way, and straighten your tie? Does she catch 持つ／拘留する of your 手渡す when she crosses the road?"

George 星／主役にするd at me and nodded wonderingly.

I slid 負かす／撃墜する into my 議長，司会を務める and smirked 激しく at my finger-nails.

Here and now I would like to say that of all the refinements of 女性（の） technique there is 非，不，無 to approach the subtlety of "選ぶing the thread." The 推論する／理由 for the infallible success of this method is 深い rooted in psychology, and it is not for me to go into it. It is a combination of the "motherly" and "粘着するing vine" that has led more men to a one-控訴-for-life 存在 than any other of the 合法的 持つ／拘留するs.

I felt sorry for George.

"And you, Stanley; what have you done?" I asked. "How is little Whatsername?"

"We're engaged," said Stanley calmly.

I sighed. There they were, self-十分な, happy in their ignorance and blind to the horrible example before them. I rose and, leaving them, strolled into the other 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業 to talk to Flannery.

I felt like a 孤独な 乗客 on a 沈むing ship, who had played "Nearer My God to Thee" three or four times, S.O.S'd till the 殴打／砲列s had run out, 発射 off his last ロケット／急騰する, and was now 準備するing to dance the Charleston on the 最高の，を越す of the wheel-house. Too many 悲しみs and calamities 敗北・負かす their own ends and tend to make one divinely careless and callously flippant.

"Flannery," I said, "a 襲う，襲って強奪する of whisky, and have one yourself."

"井戸／弁護士席—if you don't mind, Jack—a 襲う，襲って強奪する, you know—"

"All 権利. Please yourself. I have no friends."

"Aw, but I was real bad the last time, Jack—"

"Go on. Have your fiddling nobbler. Don't consider me."

"Oh, all 権利 then. I'll have a 襲う，襲って強奪する," he assented miserably.

Time passed.

Stanley and George （機の）カム in as Flannery and I were leaning over the 反対する, 調和させるing softly in "甘い Adeline."

"George," I said, knocking his hat off, "have a 襲う，襲って強奪する of whisky."

"I would, Jack, only I've got to go out to-night," he replied apologetically.

"Ah! So I've lost another friend." I sighed. "I ask you, George, for the last time, will you have a 襲う，襲って強奪する of whisky?"

"Aw, all 権利," said George.

"Stanley?" I questioned, raising one eyebrow.

"絶対," said Stanley.

How that word "絶対" reminded me of Daisy!

Dear Daisy. The only woman who ever understood me—partly. Daisy Slatter...I wondered what her 指名する was before she married Woggo, and if I would ever see her again. I think I almost cried a little.

"Come on," I said, "let's sing '甘い Adeline' again."

We sang it, the old song. The song we used to sing when I was a boy. The song we used to sing around the 解雇する／砲火／射撃 at the week-end （軍の）野営地，陣営. We sang it, I remember, on the beach in the moonlight, and sitting on the kerb at two o'clock in the morning. When we were blue, when we were drunk, when we were broke and the night before I got married we sang it—the old song—"甘い Adeline."

"Ah, don't sing it any more," blubbered Flannery, and fell behind the 反対する.

It was half-past nine. The doors were locked and only the four of us were in the 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業.

"Come home, daddy," whimpered Stanley. "Li'l Stanley feels sick."

"Come on, George," I said.

I forget what happened after that. Nothing of any importance. I know we got home all 権利 because I woke up underneath the dining-room （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する the next morning. Stanley showed up about four in the afternoon. George seemed to be all 権利 肉体的に, but filled with 悔恨. He had 約束d the yellow-haired thread-picker that he would never touch another 減少（する）.

Such is the frailty of human nature.

Taking it all 一連の会議、交渉／完成する, it was a pretty dreadful day.

CHAPTER XXIII

Late in the afternoon things were very bad. Both Stanley and George were 事実上の／代理 like the beasts of the fields and and 支持を得ようと努めるd. They dragged themselves about the house, kicking things about and bumping into things and 悪口を言う／悪態ing me. It has always been my opinion that if a man cannot drink without making a beast of himself, he should not drink at all and seeing that nearly twenty-four hours had elapsed since they'd had anything to drink—or eat, I could find no excuse for their boorishness. I can understand a man feeling a little off colour after a few 襲う，襲って強奪するs of whisky. I felt a bit leadenish myself, but to keep it up all day! Disgusting. It 事実上 量d to a 反乱（を起こす）. When I say a 反乱（を起こす）, I mean that I have always been 認めるd as the 長，率いる and leader in any company. I am not a domineering man, but there is something about me, some innate 空気／公表する of 当局 that has always made men look up to me and 尊敬（する）・点 me. I remember, when I was a small boy, my mother took me to a phrenologist. After 診察するing me, he said, "Madam, your son is a remarkable type; his bump of philosophy is enormous while the 権威のある 地域 of his cranium is 異常な. He is a born leader." Unfortunately, my mother, who was a simple soul and not 詩（を作る）d in the phrenological jargon, got the idea that a born leader was a man who walked in 前線 of a road-roller carrying a red 旗, or Number One in a chain-ギャング（団）, so my talents were never 偉業／利用するd or encouraged. にもかかわらず this 欠如（する） of 適切な時期 to 陳列する，発揮する my gifts as a leader of men I have always been 尊敬（する）・点d and looked up to, as I have said before. It therefore （機の）カム as a blow to me when Stanley, speaking to George in an undertone, said, "He's mad!" I knew he meant me.

George agreed with him.

"襲う，襲って強奪するs of whisky!" he said contemptuously. "事実上 軍隊d me to have them. 軍隊d me. You know that, Stanley! And after 約束ing her not to touch another 減少（する）. I wouldn't mind so much if I didn't feel so crook. He hasn't the slightest consideration for any one but himself. He is mad, Stanley. He must be mad."

"Of course he is!" replied Stanley. "Why, do you know what he did a little while 支援する? Chased me up on the roof with a meat chopper!"

"Diddy!" exclaimed George.

"He did. You saw how the door of the 前線 bedroom is bashed in? He did that. I tell you, Uncle George, it's a wonder I'm alive to-day. And yet I stick to him and help him," he 追加するd in a トン that would have made Agatha envious.

All this, mind you, while I'm sitting in the same room reading the paper!

"It's the drink," said George, continuing the discussion. "No wonder Agatha left him. Gertrude too. It （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域s me how they stood him as long as they did."

"Aunt Gertrude would never have been as she is, only for him," said Stanley, shaking his 長，率いる.

"罰金 woman, Gertrude," agreed George. "Just listen to him rustling that paper! Wouldn't it get on your 神経s? No consideration at all!"

"Every time he rustles it, the noise goes 権利 through me," replied Stanley, shuddering.

I flung the paper 負かす／撃墜する.

"What the hell's wrong with the pair of you?" I cried. "Can't a man read a paper without you two prawns moaning about it?"

"Who's a prawn?" 需要・要求するd George standing up.

"Stanley."

"That's all 権利 then," he mumbled, sitting 負かす／撃墜する again.

The pair of them started to whisper together again.

I could easily understand their sudden の近くに friendship.

Sympathy bound them together. George with his thread-picker, and Stanley with Estelle the giggler, were both in the same scuttled boat. They were 苦しむing from the 影響s of their own intemperance, and I, the 部外者, had been 示すd 負かす／撃墜する as a scapegoat for their bad feelings. I have often noticed this clannishness の中で men who have capitulated to women. The married men collect into little cliques, and the next grade, 選び出す／独身 but 真面目に in love, collect into other cliques, and so on. They know damn 井戸／弁護士席 they've made fools of themselves and they think by consorting with 類似の fools to blur the 現実化.

It annoyed and saddened me to see the two of them mumbling into each other's ears, and after putting up with a whole day of slights and grumblings, I think I had just 原因（となる） to be annoyed. But 肉親，親類d hearts are more than coronets, and a soft answer turneth away wrath even if it does 招待する 疑惑. Walking softly as 証拠 of my consideration for them, I left the room and went into the kitchen. I mixed them a 選ぶ-me-up and took it to them. I'm rather proud of my reviver. It's made from a recipe of my own and consists おもに of Worcester sauce, with a little lemon juice and two or three other 半端物s and ends.

"The trouble with you is that you've had nothing to eat all day," I told them. "You're too 高度に strung. Cultivated people always are. The higher the civilization, the higher the stringing. What you both want is something to eat and a walk in the fresh 空気／公表する in congenial company, I've not had very much to eat myself to-day, so as soon as that reviver has soaked into you we'll have a meal. Stanley can lay the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する and get things ready while you do the cooking, George. I'll soon have a meal ready for you that way."

They sipped at their glasses and grunted.

It was time for a 最高の 成果／努力.

"I'll get the meal ready, myself," I said, and made for the kitchen.

"He must be mad!" whispered Stanley. "He's going to get the tea ready!"

"About time he did his 株," 不平（をいう）d George.

Patience and forbearance are not so much virtues as a sort of stultification of the intellect. I stulted about and got the meal ready. "Come on, you chaps," I called jovially.

It 傷つける me to the bone to have to be jovial and pander to the 哀れな cows, but having gone so far I was 決定するd to get them into a good mood so that I could tell them what I thought of them.

They ate their food in a languid way that 暗示するd that they were 単に humouring me in their good-natured way and that they would have much preferred to 餓死する. In the same way they …を伴ってd me out of the house and up the street, when I 示唆するd a little fresh 空気／公表する. Stanley kept up his beastly 不平（をいう）ing just to annoy me, I know, but George's peevishness had its roots in 悔恨. There was only one way to bring him 支援する to normal and I loathed the idea and shrank from the thought of what the conversational 可能性s might be, but I tried it.

"George," I said, "this little girl you've got—is she nice?"

"Orright," he answered grudgingly.

"How old is she, George?"

"Couldn't say. About twenty-five."

"Mother and father living?"

"No. Poor little devil, she hasn't got a mother or a father."

"Lucky," said Stanley, flinging his cigarette past my 直面する.

"It's a terrible thing for a poor girl to be left alone in the world," I muttered. "There are so many snares and 落し穴s. Dance-halls, two-seater cars, and things—危険な. 危険な."

"She doesn't go to dance-halls or anything like that. She's a good 静かな girl."

"I couldn't imagine you 存在 熟知させるd with any other 肉親，親類d of girl, George," I replied, putting my 手渡す on his sleeve.

Stanley giggled. "Neither could I," he said.

"You speak when you're spoken to," growled George, glaring at him.

"She is a good girl."

"When did you find out?"

I reached around George's 支援する and 攻撃する，衝突する Stanley in the 支援する of the neck.

"Shut up," I 命令（する）d, "or you'll be sent home."

"Yes," continued George, "she's a good girl, all 権利, and real nice besides. Do you know what she did?"

"Bought me a shirt."

"That's nothing," said Stanley. "I know a girl who—" "Shut up!" I snapped. "Bought you a shirt, eh, George? That was nice of her wasn't it?"

"Mmm...She sewed a button on for me."

"Where was the button off?" 問い合わせd Stanley.

"Off me trousers."

"How—" He paused. "Hmph!" he grunted.

"If you don't mind, George, I'll walk in the middle," I said, stepping in between them.

"Funny, the way her 注目する，もくろむs look at you," mused George, dreamily. "Sort of 有望な looking. Blue 注目する，もくろむs she's got. Blue like—like—you know the 支援する of a match-box? 井戸／弁護士席, like that, only not so dark."

"Striking," I commented.

"Do they match?" asked Stanley.

"We shall laugh at that little joke later on," I put in. "Remind us that we 借りがある you a laugh. But for the 現在の, be silent when a lady is 存在 spoken of."

"Good enough for him," agreed George.

We walked along in silence for a while.

George had his half-cow smile draped over his 直面する and a 見通し before his 注目する，もくろむs and had to be helped up the kerbs and jerked away from passing cars.

"Mary, her 指名する is," he muttered as we reached a quieter thoroughfare.

"What's her other 指名する, George?"

"Smith. Mary Smith."

"Mary Smith," he repeated, chewing it over like old brandy.

"Gee!" exclaimed Stanley, chuckling derisively.

"What's wrong with it!" 需要・要求するd George. "You're such a smart young feller! What's wrong with it?"

"Nothing, uncle, nothing. I just happened to have heard of someone by the 指名する of Smith and I was wondering if it was the same. Seems funny, her 指名する 存在 Smith and I having heard of someone by the 指名する of Smith somewhere—"

"Aw, you get on my 神経s," drawled George.

"Y'know, Jack," he said, turning to me, "the very first time we saw each other, we 肉親，親類d of liked each other. And the last time I saw her, I said, 'D'you love me, Mary?' and she said—"

"持つ／拘留する on," interrupted Stanley. "I know what she said. She said, 'You know I do,' You can't tell me she didn't, because that's what they all say. And then, of course, you asked her to 証明する it, and she said—" "Stanley!" I said, しっかり掴むing him by the shoulder. "Go straight home."

"Aw, leave him alone," drawled George. "He doesn't understand; he's only a boy. Mary's different to other girls."

He maundered on.

I sighed and listened and Stanley chewed his fingernails disgustedly. If he ever had any 尊敬（する）・点 for his uncle, it fled that night.

As for me, I was bored and appalled, if such a combination is possible. The man seemed to think that he had discovered something 完全に new in the way of women. Even if by some joke of nature, half of what he said about her was true, her very perfection would have had any ordinary man in the lunatic 亡命 within a week. I 激しく regretted my introduction of the topic. Coming 支援する, it was Stanley's turn.

I happened to ask him why he became engaged to Estelle when he was not yet twenty-one.

Stanley packs a vocabulary of remarkable 範囲 and can shoot it from the hip when the occasion 需要・要求するs. He has introduced to me eleven 完全に new 悪口を言う／悪態s at 半端物 times, and if there was anything hanging to it, he could talk his Aunt Gertrude to sleep, but never have I heard him run on as he did about this bony-膝d chocolate receptacle. For a start, he said, age made no difference to him. The girl had experience, and as regards the possible 保留するing of my 同意 to his marriage, he hadn't really thought of marriage. If two people ふさわしい each other to such an extent that they could live together, 井戸／弁護士席, by all means let them live together. As for the girl herself, she was the best dance partner he had ever had, and also she was very economical to run. She dressed 井戸／弁護士席, told a good story, was 幅の広い-minded about the problems of life and though she took her 位置／汚点／見つけ出す with the 残り／休憩（する） of them, she could take it or leave it. On 最高の，を越す of that, she could cook and played the banjo by ear.

There were 詳細（に述べる）s.

She was a homely girl. Washed her own stockings occasionally. Knitted her father half a sock once. Let her mother go for an 遠出 every Sunday afternoon, while she stayed at home. That would be, of course, if it was raining. Washed and 徹底的に捜すd the Pomeranian herself. She had sold a pair of her father's boots to a 売買業者 with a cart and bought Stanley a tie with the proceeds. He had it tied on to his モーター-cycle to keep the mudguard from 動揺させるing and would show it to me when we got home.

I was dazed by the time we reached the house. Even George, a fellow 犠牲者 with a more or いっそう少なく 同情的な ear, bore a stunned 表現.

Tired in 団体／死体 and mind, I sat in the kitchen and sipped a cup of tea George 注ぐd out for me. We were friendly again, but at what a cost! But I had my little say before we retired for the night. They gave me the 適切な時期 and I pulled the stopper out of the vials of wrath and splashed the wrath around like ginger-beer at a Sunday-school picnic.

George had said, "You've 元気づけるd us up all 権利, Jack. I don't know what we'd do without you."

"Yes," I replied. "I've 元気づけるd you up, I've listened to your gibberings, I've 売春婦d my intellect and degraded my 力／強力にするs of 推論する／理由ing, listening to you mumbling of your paltry love 事件／事情／状勢s. You, with your threadpickers and sundae 戦車／タンクs! You, who have no more than glimpsed the cup which I have drained to the last insipid 減少（する）! You prate to me of love. Look at Agatha—and, my God," I cried, pointing to him, "look at Stanley! I was a fool as you are now, and look at the result!"

"Aw, 削減（する） it out," 抗議するd Stanley.

"Love!" I sneered. "You think it is the door to the palace of romance, when it is only the 解雇する／砲火／射撃-escape 出口 主要な out to a 支援する 小道／航路. A fork in the road 主要な to the 離婚 法廷，裁判所 or the giggle-house. You'll come to me one of these days, bored, baggy-膝d and broke and ask my advice. I give it to you now. Forget it! Go in for fretwork or stamp collecting. Join a 支配 club, do anything you damn 井戸／弁護士席 like but leave love to the furniture-売買業者s who invented it. Never utter the word in my presence again. I've finished. I'm through. I'll show you how a man should live in the next few days...you mawky pair of fools, you 見込みのある perambulator-麻薬売人s, you lip-salve soaks! Good night!"

And I strode away and left them sitting in the kitchen, looking at each other.

CHAPTER XXIV

I rose 早期に the next morning, breakfasted at Flannery's and returned home to don my new 控訴. While I was dressing, Stanley was hanging around, walking in and out of the room pretending to look for something. I did not speak to him, and at last he asked me the question he could 含む／封じ込める no longer.

"What are you going to do?"

"So you can see that I ーするつもりである to do something, eh? I'm going out, my boy."

"Where to, dad?"

I finished lacing my boot and turned to him.

"Listen to me, boy. Yesterday I went to see your mother."

"Oh!" exclaimed Stanley. "Now I understand. That explains everything. I thought you had gone a bit wonky in the melon. Last night, you know."

"I have been a good father to you, Stanley," I continued 静かに. "I have tried to be a good husband to your mother. I have done my 義務. I have done my best. I can do no more. I have, up till now, led a 静かな and 事実上 完全に respectable life. All that is finished nowand I am going out."

"May I come?" he asked.

"Please yourself," I replied carelessly.

"Me too?" put in George, who had been standing outside the door.

I shrugged my shoulders.

"If your Marys and your Estelles will 許す you to …を伴って me, I have no 反対s—供給するing," I 追加するd, "that George doesn't wear that damned yellow tie."

"Orright," agreed George meekly, "but where are we going? What are we going to do?"

"The first thing we are going to do is to find Woggo Slatter," I curtly 知らせるd him.

"Gee!" gasped Stanley, "I'm coming! just wait till I get my rompers on."

"What tie shall I wear?" said George, stepping aside as Stanley hurried past him.

"黒人／ボイコット," called Stanley from the stairs.

George hesitated in the doorway for a moment gazing at my unresponsive 支援する.

"Aw, I dunno what tie to wear," he said miserably.

"Go and get dressed," I snapped.

He shuffled away.

My little lecture of the previous night had evidently brought home to them that I was something more than a mere third member of the 世帯. I was getting my rightful 予定: 尊敬（する）・点 and civility.

I telephoned for the taxi-driver, whom on account of the frequency of our patronage I had come to regard almost as an old family retainer. By the time he arrived we were ready, and we entered the car and seated ourselves.

"Where to?" asked the driver, looking at George.

"I dunno," replied George.

"Where are we going, dad?" asked Stanley.

"Damned if I know," I replied. "Get a move on, driver, we'll think of some place presently."

"I suppose Slatter wouldn't be at the Blue Garter now?" I asked Stanley.

"I don't think so. After lunch he may be. He 作品 in the morning I think; he has to make a living somehow when things are slack. Lots of favourites been getting pipped off lately."

"Where does he work?" I asked.

"負かす／撃墜する at the Forty （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs in Pitt Street. He's 一般に at the end （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する they tell me."

"Billiard 場内取引員／株価?"

"Gee, no! Playing pool. He's the best pool player there."

"Hmph," I grunted. "I'd like to have him on for a small wager."

I （権力などを）行使する a crafty cue at pool.

We called at the Forty （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs and made 調査s. We were told that Woggo had been 閉めだした by the 管理／経営 and that he was usually to be 設立する in the Blue Garter, where he did a little training in the 地階. We thanked the marker and went to 昼食.

I dislike idling about town. I seem to 会合，会う everyone I don't wish to 会合，会う and by some strange coincidence I always seem to have forgotten to 支払う／賃金 them some minor 負債. We therefore arrived at the Blue Garter only an hour or two after 昼食.

There was no one in the place, but the 経営者／支配人 remembered me, and after a little talk directed us to Slatter's 地階 training ４半期/4分の1s. "I hope, gentlemen, that there will be no—er—騒動, so to speak. We are—er—迫害するd by the police already, and it would be—er—most—er—"

"That's all 権利, old chap," I 保証するd him. "There will be no 激しい抗議."

I had brought a small length of lead 麻薬を吸うing with me and felt 公正に／かなり 確信して that there would be no scuffling. But I was mistaken. I never even had a chance to use it. The 経営者／支配人 left us at the door of a room from whence （機の）カム the quick, rhythmic thudding of a belaboured punching-ball.

"Stanley," I directed, "bend 負かす／撃墜する and let your uncle stand on your 支援する. George, you get up on Stanley and look through the fanlight. Tell me the exact position of Slatter in that room. Then jump out of the way and I'll 急ぐ in and bash him to a 低俗雑誌."

Stanley, 不平（をいう）ing a bit, 許すd George to stand on his 支援する. I gripped my piece of 麻薬を吸う.

"Gee, dad! You're not going to use that?" gasped Stanley.

"I won't 傷つける him. I'll just—I'll just show him, that's all. Don't 激しく揺する about so much; think of your uncle."

"I'm going," whimpered Stanley. "I won't be mixed up in a 殺人! You're mad. I'm sorry I （機の）カム. Get off me, uncle!"

"There's six of 'em," whispered George, ちらりと見ることing 負かす／撃墜する at me.

"They got muscles on 'em like workin' bullocks. One bloke just got 攻撃する，衝突する under the chin with an Indian club, and he laughed!"

"Get off me!" wailed Stanley, sagging at the 膝s.

"My crikeys!" yelled George. "He's seen me!"

Stanley 崩壊（する）d, with George on 最高の，を越す of him. The door was jerked open and Woggo in shorts and rubber shoes 星／主役にするd 負かす／撃墜する at the 緊急発進するing 人物／姿／数字s on the 床に打ち倒す. They got up as three or four half-naked 競技者s strolled up behind him.

"Ar!" growled Woggo, reaching out for George, "it's you, is it!"

I led the way up the stairs.

The most casual student of 戦略 knows that surprise is the most important factor in an attack of any sort, and as our 計画（する）s for surprising the enemy had gone astray, the obvious thing to do was to 退却／保養地. Just an ordinary 事柄 of move and 反対する-move.

Of course, I never thought of all this before I decided to go. I thought of it afterwards, but at the time, I 行為／法令／行動するd on instinct. If a few more of our いわゆる generals had 所有するd the same 肉親，親類d of 戦略の instinct and 行為／法令／行動するd upon it, the 広大な／多数の／重要な War would have been over a lot earlier.

It seemed to be a lot さらに先に up the stairs than it had been coming 負かす／撃墜する. Stanley and George passed me on the second flight, and had it not been for this foolishness, what followed might never have occurred. Instead of making for the door at the street level, they kept going on up the stairs. Perhaps it was because Woggo and his ball-punching friends were so の近くに behind us. I don't know why I followed them, but I did. Thinking it over now, I think it must have been instinct again that 勧めるd me to stay with them to 保護する them if possible.

Four strides in 前線 of me on the 上陸 of the first 床に打ち倒す, George and Stanley dived through the doorway of the lounge-room and slammed the door in my 直面する. A filthy trick to play on a man who was doing his best to get them out of trouble. I jerked the door open just in time to 激突する it again on the 真っ先の of my pursuers. Stanley's 長，率いる showed for a moment above a window-sill. He was outside, on the roof of the veranda. George had one 脚 through the window, struggling clumsily. I bounded to the window and 押し進めるd him through. He fell on the roof with a 衝突，墜落. I felt a 手渡す しっかり掴む at my coat as I leapt after him. I had no idea how far 負かす／撃墜する the veranda was, but, 裁判官ing by the noise George made, it must have been やめる a few feet. Marvellous the 危険s one takes in times of 強調する／ストレス. Fortunately, I landed on George.

I ちらりと見ることd hurriedly about me. The veranda, at わずかに 変化させるing 高さs, stretched 無傷の for nearly a 封鎖する. Already a dense （人が）群がる had formed on the opposite pavement, for we were in the centre of a busy 位置／汚点／見つけ出す. Stanley had rernoved his coat, or had it torn off him, and stood clasping an electric-light 政治家 that jutted up through the roof. The （人が）群がる shouted as Woggo and one of his friends became jammed in the window-でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れる in their 苦悩 to get at us.

Stanley 開始するd to 上がる the 政治家 as George staggered to his feet. The 政治家 seemed to be the only way off the roof, so I made for it.

"Go on, damn you!" I shouted, pinching Stanley on the 脚. "What the hell's keeping you?"

A wire, from which depended an electric light, stretched across the 狭くする street. He しっかり掴むd it and swung out on it. I reached the 最高の，を越す of the 政治家 and was standing on the cross-妨げる／法廷，弁護士業s when Woggo bounded out on to the roof. George clattered over the アイロンをかける, seemingly at a loss for inspiration. を引き渡す 手渡す, I swung out over the centre of the street and stopped next to Stanley.

"Go on, you fool!" I cried, swinging one foot at him. "What are you dawdling for?"

"There's a policeman on the roof at the other 味方する and one at the foot of each 政治家," he panted. "Go on if you like. Don't mind me."

My 武器 were beginning to feel the 緊張する. I looked 負かす／撃墜する at the street. All traffic was 封鎖するd, and in a little space （疑いを）晴らすd of the multitude of 元気づける 観客s, the police-wagon waited.

"悪賢い, eh?" 発言／述べるd Stanley, nodding に向かって it.

"Gee," he 追加するd, "if Uncle George doesn't get 選ぶd for the next International Rugby team, the game's not fair. They 港／避難所't got him yet! Look at him sidestepping! Gee, dad! Here comes a 巡査 out of the window. He's a gonner!"

"Damn your Uncle George!" I replied, 転換ing my aching 手渡すs, "I can't hang here all day like a 味方する of 爆破d bacon!"

"Boiled bacon," 修正するd Stanley. "減少（する） off if you want to, but stop wriggling about or you'll snap the cable. Here comes uncle!"

I looked around. George was on 最高の，を越す of the 政治家 with Slatter hanging on to his 脚.

"Don't come here!" I shouted. "It won't 持つ／拘留する three of us. Get off!"

"Get a wire of your own," shouted Stanley, 怒って. "This is ours!"

George, にもかかわらず his many 質s, has one trait in his character which I do not admire. He is 絶対 selfish. Thinks of nothing else but his own 慰安 and safety. にもかかわらず our 警告s, he kicked Woggo in the 直面する and swung out on the cable. He looked haggard.

When he was about five feet from us, the cable snapped. I knew the confounded thing would snap. It broke away from the Blue Garter end and we 急襲するd through the 空気／公表する, all hanging on. It struck the 辛勝する／優位 of the veranda on the opposite 味方する of the street. Luckily, we had just the 権利 length, さもなければ we would have been plastered all over the 辛勝する／優位 of the roof. As it was, we swung under the veranda and Stanley 発射 through a plate-glass shopwindow without touching anything else. My feet mowed a 列 in the （人が）群がる on the pavement and in the 混乱 I 急ぐd through the 後援d window after Stanley.

George had the way 事実上 （疑いを）晴らすd for him. I heard moaning and 叫び声をあげるing and 悪口を言う／悪態s, and the sound of his footsteps crunching behind me as I bounded through the 穴を開ける Stanley had made in the 支援する of the window. I felt that it was a time when each man must 行為／法令／行動する for himself. Stanley evidently thought so too. The （人が）群がる 妨げるd the 成果／努力s of the police to a 広大な／多数の／重要な extent and the maimed and 負傷させるd created a 確かな 量 of 転換 in the 前線 of the shop, but there was no time to waste. And, really, we hadn't wasted any. It was only about thirty seconds since the cable had snapped, and Stanley had already disappeared. I leapt 今後 and dashed through an archway.

It was a big 蓄える／店 and （人が）群がるd, yet my escape was 平易な. An (a)自動的な／(n)自動拳銃 解除する took me to the third 床に打ち倒す. I straightened my tie and made myself presentable with the 援助（する） of a mirror so thoughtfully 供給するd in elevators 推定では for people who like to see themselves going up. Then I stepped out.

In a 批判的な 状況／情勢, mere calmness will not always save one, but the man who keeps 冷静な／正味の when hundreds are excited will come out on 最高の，を越す as 定期的に as the 長，率いる's hair. I had no hat and that fact gave me an idea which was nothing いっそう少なく than a 一打／打撃 of genius. I put my pencil behind my ear, 拡大するd my chest, and with a 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な demeanour paced the length of the department.

The shoppers who had flocked to the windows overlooking the street, the 観客s, the what I have heard called fickle public were already returning to their normal blase 明言する／公表する of mind.

Someone touched me on the 肘, and I turned slowly and gracefully toward an old lady.

"Now that all the excitement is over," she said pleasantly, "I want to see some 手渡す-捕らえる、獲得するs Not expensive ones; its for my daughter. You have some advertised at six and eleven, 示すd 負かす／撃墜する from five guineas."

"Oh, yes, madam," I replied suavely. "Take elevator, eighth 床に打ち倒す, first 反対する on 権利."

"Eighth 床に打ち倒す! But there are only six 床に打ち倒すs in the building!"

"I said the sixth 床に打ち倒す, madam."

"You didn't, you said the eighth 床に打ち倒す!"

"Oh, go to 炎s!" I said, and walked away.

I hate arguing with old ladies, and I don't know how a man can degrade himself to such a position as shopwalker.

"Check, please!" called a salesman from behind a nearby 反対する.

I drew a 雷 sketch of a dog fight in his salesbook, that 存在 as 近づく as I could get to the usual checker's 署名, and 取って代わるing the pencil behind my ear, strolled away.

I could feel his gaze boring into my 支援する and looked around suddenly to see him 星／主役にするing suspiciously at me. It struck me that I had made a mistake in snapping at the old lady as she was almost 確かな to complain about it and 原因（となる） trouble. I decided to try my luck on the second 床に打ち倒す, and descended the stairs. I was at least one 床に打ち倒す nearer the street and safety if nothing else.

I was walking slowly toward the 前線 of the building in order to see how things were getting on in the street when I was stopped by another confounded 顧客.

"Can't I get any attention?" he snapped. "I've been standing here for the past hour or so waiting to be served!"

I put my 手渡す on his shoulder.

"Now," I said gently, "that's a 嘘（をつく）, about your standing here for an hour or so. However, we'll let it pass. What do you want?"

He went red in the 直面する and sat 負かす／撃墜する in a 議長，司会を務める beside the 反対する.

"I want a beastly hat," he exclaimed at last.

I stepped behind the 反対する and took a hat off a little pedestal.

"Is that beastly enough?" I asked, 手渡すing it to him.

"Don't you want to know the size or anything?" he asked querulously.

"Lord, no!" I exclaimed. "What's it to do with me? Have a go at that one."

"It's too small," he 反対するd.

"They're wearing them small now," I 保証するd him.

"Let me have a look at that one."

I passed him the hat he pointed to.

"It fits," he mumbled, "but I don't like the colour."

"I like the colour," I said. "That's all 権利. Don't be so finicky. Now, listen to me," I continued, raising my 手渡す to silence him. "As a sensible man, you must 収容する／認める that you only buy a hat to cover your 長，率いる. But as a man of fashion, you want a hat that looks 井戸／弁護士席, don't you?"

He swallowed, and nodded.

"井戸／弁護士席, then, you only want it to look 井戸／弁護士席 so people will admire you in it. I admire you in that hat. What more do you want I'm a good 裁判官."

"How much is it?" he mumbled, 新たな展開ing it about on his 長，率いる.

"Aw—let me see. Say about two shillings?"

"I'll take it!" he exclaimed 熱望して.

"Kick in with the cash," I said, 持つ／拘留するing out my 手渡す.

He gave me the two shillings.

"There's some paper and string if you want to 包む it up. Sing out if you want anything else."

I left him and walked away. I've heard about this art of salesmanship as they call it, but it seems to me that any fool can sell things if he goes the 権利 way about it. I was two shillings better off, anyway, and I had 満足させるd the 顧客, and that's the whole essence of salesmanship. I was enjoying myself, in a way.

There were so many people in the place that I ran very little 危険 of （犯罪，病気などの）発見 while I kept walking about. I had absent-mindedly brought a hat away with me from the hat 反対する. It didn't fit, but I decided to keep it for a while. If it had not been for seeing a short, stout man 存在 marched off between two 大規模な plain-着せる／賦与するs 探偵，刑事s I might have stopped for hours, but the sight of an innocent man 存在 bundled along to the police-先頭 reminded me that until I got out of the building I was in danger all the time. I noticed for the first time that big men in 非軍事の 着せる／賦与するs, 明白に policemen, were roaming all about the place, peering suspiciously at everyone.

I turned once again to the stairs and descended to, the ground 床に打ち倒す. It was risky, but I felt that if I did not soon leave, something might happen.

I gazed around me and my 注目する，もくろむs bulged as they sighted Stanley. He was standing behind a 反対する in his shirtsleeves, 倍のing up a travelling-rug.

Astonished, I walked over to him.

"Yessir? What can I do for you?" he 問い合わせd pleasantly.

"Lord, you've got a 神経!" I exclaimed.

"So have you," he whispered. "Where's Uncle George?"

"Pinched, I suppose," I murmured.

"This is a very good 質 rug, sir," babbled Stanley, as a man paused at the 反対する. "Best camel wool, hollow ground with 味方する flaps and hot （土地などの）細長い一片s."

"Yes," I replied, "I'll take that."

"Anything else, sir?"

I looked around as the man walked away.

"Yes," I said, "I'll have that overcoat there, and a スーツケース."

"Hey! 削減（する） it out!" whispered Stanley, hoarsely.

"Make it snappy!" I replied.

He hesitated a moment and then 手渡すd me the overcoat.

"Now the 控訴-事例／患者," I said, draping the coat over my arm.

Mumbling to himself he went to the end of the 反対する and 除去するd a leather 事例／患者 from a 陳列する，発揮する stand. I pretended to 診察する it while I spoke to him.

"I know this looks very much like dishonesty, Stanley," I said softly, "but don't let it trouble your 良心. You know me for a man of honour and 正直さ and that though I may have my faults, petty dishonesty is not one of them. I will explain everything later. Have you got anything else that you could put into the 事例／患者?"

"We've only got travel goods here," he replied sulkily. "I don't know whose overcoat you've got."

"All 権利, all 権利. There is no need for you to get sulky. I'll 支払う／賃金 for the stuff just to 始める，決める your mind at 残り／休憩（する）. How much is it?"

He brightened up.

"We'll let it go at a 続けざまに猛撃する. The stuff is 価値（がある） more, but I don't know the price of everything, so we'll say a 続けざまに猛撃する, eh?"

"Yes," I replied, "we'll just say it. Here's two shillings."

"That's not enough," he said, putting it in his pocket.

"Do you mean to keep that money yourself!" I 需要・要求するd. "Why, boy, that is 窃盗! 港／避難所't you got a streak of decency somewhere in you?"

I was astounded. I had never 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑うd my own son. What father would?

"You're coming out of it all 権利," he mumbled.

"Give me 支援する that two shillings!"

He walked away and I 選ぶd up the 控訴-事例／患者 and went after him.

"Remember, you 強盗, that's two shillings you 借りがある me," I hissed and passed on, donning the overcoat as I went. With the coat on, the 控訴-事例／患者 in my 手渡す, the rug over my shoulder and my new hat 攻撃するd over my forehead, I hurried away to another 出口 and left the place.

CHAPTER XXV

When I am in one of my 無謀な moods it takes a lot to surprise me. 無謀な but 静める, that's me. I remember when Agatha's grandfather, who had become ますます absent-minded as he grew older, explained to me his 推論する／理由s for going to sleep with his 長，率いる in the gas-stove. He had ーするつもりであるd to 自殺, but had forgotten to turn the gas on. Another man might have telephoned for the police or the 救急車 or a straightjacket. It is rather surprising when one comes to think of it, to find an old man asleep on the 床に打ち倒す with his 長，率いる in the gas-stove and the door squeezing his neck. But it takes more than that to surprise me. I just turned the gas on for the old chap and left him. It sent my gas account up enormously, but I was never a man to quibble over a little expense. And I am 静める at all times. Still I could not help the slight raising of one eyebrow when, on arriving, home, I 設立する George sitting on the doorstep.

"Hullo," he said. "Where did you get that hat?"

"What's wrong with it?" I queried.

"It looks silly."

"How did you manage to get away?" I asked curtly. A man who wears 関係 like George has no 権利 to 非難する.

"I dunno, 正確に／まさに," he replied, scratching his 長，率いる. "I was standing there, just inside the window, when in comes two 探偵，刑事s and about nine policemen. So I starts to get 支援する into the window and one of the 探偵，刑事s says, 'Eh!' So I looks 一連の会議、交渉／完成する and he says, 'Oh, all 権利. You watch that stuff in the window, will you?' So I says, 'Righto,' and off they went and left me."

It was plain to me that on account of his build and the way his 着せる／賦与するs didn't fit him, the 探偵，刑事s had mistaken him for one of their own 肉親，親類d.

"What did you do then?" I 問い合わせd.

"井戸／弁護士席, I stood there and watched the window for a while, and then a policeman comes up to me and says, 'I'll take your place here. O'Halloran wants you.' So I went off and had a look 一連の会議、交渉／完成する but I couldn't find any one by the 指名する of O'Halloran, so I thought I might 同様に come home—and here I am."

"Oh," I said.

What else could I say? Fools 急ぐ in where angels wouldn't go in an armoured 戦車／タンク, and they stroll out again in safety with a silly grin on their 直面するs. I stepped past George and entered the house to rid myself of the overcoat and the 控訴-事例／患者. Looking myself over in the mirror, I had to 収容する／認める that the hat was a bit on the small 味方する, but by wearing it over my forehead or 攻撃するd on to the 支援する of my 長，率いる it did not look so bad. Beside, a man with the 権利 空気／公表する and 耐えるing can wear 事実上 anything.

I had washed, and was putting on a clean collar when George shouted from the doorstep that Stanley was coming.

I went to the doorway.

"Hullo," he said, kicking the gate open. "Nice damn mess you've got us into. I had terrible trouble getting away. I sold out everything at my 反対する and just as I was going, they （機の）カム looking for me. I was lucky to get away. I suppose you think that sort of thing funny—"

"I did not ask you to come," I put in. "You （機の）カム of your own 解放する／自由な will."

"You've 廃虚d me at the Blue Garter," he 不平（をいう）d. "That's the second time you've gone there and 原因（となる）d a 騒動 and I'll be 閉めだした from the place now. You've taken my living away from me, that's what you've done. As for you, you'll be sandbagged on sight if you ever go 近づく the place again."

"にもかかわらず, I'm going 支援する there as soon as I've had something to eat."

"What for?" gasped George. "Tired of life!"

"Something like that," I replied.

Stanley looked at George and tapped his forehead.

"Yes," agreed George emphatically. "And, my crikeys, he looks it with that silly hat on!"

"Never mind my hat," I snapped. "Take that rotten tie off. If you must know my 推論する／理由s for returning to the Blue Garter, I'll tell you. I ーするつもりである 今後 to get the last ounce out of life. While Slatter remains out of hospital, my activities will be 妨害するd. That is all."

"井戸／弁護士席," 宣言するd Stanley, "I'm not going to be in it."

"Neither am I," said George.

"Stand out of the way then," I cried. "I'm going."

"Straightaway!" exclaimed Stanley.

"Flannery's first."

"Oh, we'll go that far with you," said George.

Stanley 小衝突d past me.

"Wait tell I get another coat and hat."

He was ready in a few minutes and the three of us strolled up to Flannery's. Flannery looked hard at me and then shook his 長，率いる vigorously.

"I know it by the look of your 直面する, and I'm not having any. Not even one, so it's no use asking me."

"What are you talking about?" I asked him.

"襲う，襲って強奪するs of whisky," he replied tersely.

"Neither am I," I 保証するd him. "I have a busy night before me."

We ordered our drinks.

"Where did you get that boy-size egg-boiler?" asked Flannery. "It looks funny."

"To say the least of it, Flannery, your 批評 of the hat of a good 顧客 is impolitic. I'll say nothing of your 欠如（する） of taste."

He わびるd, but kept ちらりと見ることing at the hat in a way that annoyed me 大いに.

As time went on, Stanley became silent, and George ますます voluble. Stanley （機の）カム and shook 手渡すs with me.

"You're game, dad," he whispered. "I've a good mind to go with you to-night."

"It is no 探検隊／遠征隊 for boys," I replied gently.

"Oh, isn't it!" he exclaimed. "I'd like to see any one try to stop me if I 手配中の，お尋ね者 to go. I'd be of more use than that big 低迷 over there."

"What's that?" 問い合わせd George.

"Stanley was just 発表するing his 意向 of coming with me to the Blue Garter as you seemed to be a little too nervous to …を伴って me and he does not like to see me go alone."

"Nervous!" shouted George.

George was coming too.

At half-past six we left Flannery's by the 支援する 入り口 and entered the taxi which had been waiting for us since six o'clock.

"Blue Garter," I directed.

"My God!" exclaimed the taxi-driver, and we started off.

"I should be seeing Mary to-night," mumbled George.

"It's not too late to 身を引く if you want to," I replied.

"Oh, I'm coming. I didn't make an 任命, but was thinking of calling on her...Ah, 井戸／弁護士席!"

An aura of gloom hung about George and Stanley and I could not help 存在 影響する／感情d. The car was comfortably upholstered and we rolled along without the slightest 揺さぶる. The driver, having by this time got used to my ideas, had hung a tin flap over the 直面する of the taximeter. We travelled in 高級な and on 楽しみ bent, more or いっそう少なく, and yet the 表現 on the 直面するs of Stanley and George could not have been worse if we had been travelling in a 霊柩車. They sat stiffly, gazing sadly at the driver's neck. After 耐えるing it for about six minutes, I tried to 元気づける them up.

"What's wrong with you totem-政治家s!" I snapped. "Look as if you're enjoying yourselves. This isn't a tumbrel!"

"I was wondering," said Stanley in a toneless 発言する／表明する, "I was just wondering whether we would take our next ride in the police car or the 救急車 wagon."

"I should have gone to see Mary," mumbled George.

"What's the 急ぐ?" I queried. "脅すd she'll escape? Don't you believe it. Plenty of time. She'll keep; they all do."

"I've had 'em go bad," said Stanley.

"Anyhow, George," I continued. "What do you ーするつもりである to do about her? You'll have to get rid of her sooner or later before she gathers too much 証拠."

"I'm going to marry her," he replied stolidly.

"Don't start, dad!" exclaimed Stanley. "I'm not in the mood for it."

"I wasn't going to say anything," I replied, "only that, speaking as a man of experience, if ever I got married again it would have to be under an anaesthetic."

"非，不，無 of them new fangled ideas for me," said George, 厳しく. "Anaesthetics! When I get married, I'll get married raw—with me 注目する，もくろむs open."

The car 緩和するd to a stop.

"Blue Garter," said the driver.

"Already!" exclaimed Stanley.

"You'd better wait," I said, after we had alighted.

"Not me!" the driver exclaimed. "And I want me money, now. I might never see you again—unless I have to identify yer," he 追加するd thoughtfully.

"Do you want to lose my custom, or will you wait?" I snapped.

"Oh, all 権利," he replied sulkily. "I'll wait on the corner of the next 封鎖する."

I turned my 支援する on the 臆病な／卑劣な fool and we entered the doorway of the Blue Garter and 上がるd the stairs. There was a little altercation as to who should go first. 儀礼 誘発するd me to request Stanley and George to go on ahead but they were 平等に decided that I should lead the way. After a few minutes, I acceded to their requests and went in 前線.

Seen from the 上陸, the place was （人が）群がるd. I could see neither Woggo nor the 経営者／支配人 and I beckoned to George and Stanley who had hung 支援する on the stairs. Together we entered the room.

"See any one you know?" I asked, turning to George.

He shook his 長，率いる.

"Hard to tell in this （人が）群がる," said Stanley dubiously. "I don't suppose he'd be in here and it's no use hanging around. Let's go."

A waiter paused in 前線 of us and 注目する，もくろむd me suspiciously.

"We want a （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する," I said, nodding to him.

"What for?" 需要・要求するd George.

"To sit 負かす／撃墜する at," I explained 根気よく.

Very grudgingly, the waiter 安全な・保証するd us a （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する. We had, just seated ourselves when a glad cry 井戸／弁護士席d from far 負かす／撃墜する the （人が）群がるd room.

"Oo—oo! George!"

We looked around.

"Mary!" whinnied George.

"石／投石する the crows," gasped Stanley. "It's Eggs!"

And it was. There she stood, a 勝利 of 化学製品 science, waving her plump white arm above her blonde 長，率いる.

"George!" I 命令（する）d, "sit 負かす／撃墜する!"

But it was no use. Grinning from ear to ear he 板材d に向かって her like a dray-horse just turned out of harness, straight into the lion's mouth. Stanley and I stood up on the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する to watch the 衝撃. Out of the corner of my 注目する，もくろむ, I saw the 経営者／支配人 enter the room. His 直面する blanched as his gaze alighted upon us. "Oh, my God, they're in!" he cried.

"Har!" （機の）カム a 深い-throated growl from the other end of the room. I saw Woggo get up, I heard Eggs 叫び声をあげる, "Leave him alone!" I saw Steak hanging on to the drunken Simpson as he strove to get to Slatter's 味方する. And then Stanley 押し進めるd me off the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する.

In his excitement he 肘d me off, or that was his その後の excuse. He may have done it deliberately, but anyhow, I don't think I lay on the 床に打ち倒す for more than half a minute, although I was a bit stunned. Supposing that it took me a minute to 落ちる to the 床に打ち倒す and get up again, one could hardly 推定する／予想する much to happen in such a short time, but when next I could see Slatter's end of the cafe, it was a 難破させる. As I watched, （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs flopped over, flower vases sped glittering through the 空気／公表する and 粉砕するd against the 塀で囲むs. Women stood on 議長，司会を務めるs and were swept off. Men, catching a sauce 瓶／封じ込める in the ear, rose with a howl of 激怒（する） and cast themselves into the fray with the abandon of' open-空気／公表する eurhythmicists. 一方／合間, George 論証するd the importance of 存在 earnest while Eggs clawed those nearest. Steak 静かに collected the spoons.

"Isn't it 広大な／多数の／重要な!" exclaimed Stanley.

"Go in and help Uncle George," I 命令（する）d.

"I can help him from here. Watch this," he said, swinging a 議長，司会を務める around his 長，率いる. He let go and it rose in a gentle curve above the 長，率いるs of the 暴徒 and then fell into the 厚い of it.

"You've 攻撃する，衝突する your Uncle George!" I exclaimed.

"Ah, 井戸／弁護士席. I'll try another one, a little more to the 権利. Watch this one."

I left him and はうd on my 手渡すs and 膝s under cover of the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs to the さらに先に end of the room where it was quieter. Someone had locked the door 主要な out to the street and around it a sweating 暴徒 milled in their endeavour to escape. Hunched up in a corner behind a （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, I 設立する the 経営者／支配人. His 直面する was buried in his 手渡すs. He looked the very dregs of dejection.

"耐える up, old man," I said, patting him on the 長，率いる. "Try to smile."

He looked up.

"Hur—r—r—rgh!" he 叫び声をあげるd and leapt to his feet like a maniac. I 急ぐd 負かす／撃墜する the room from the ungrateful beast. I could feel him at my 支援する. He was mad! With a last despairing leap, I flung myself into the tumult and the 難破. Divine Providence must have guided me, for I struck Slatter in the 支援する with such 軍隊 that he 発射 今後, 攻撃する，衝突する the 床に打ち倒す with his forehead, and lay still. Someone kicked me in the stomach. A sudden feeling of disinterest swept over me and I はうd behind an 上昇傾向d （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する 持つ／拘留するing myself together. But my luck had not altogether 砂漠d me. Through eyelids half-の近くにd in anguish, I saw a waiter しっかり掴む a palm in its earthen マリファナ, raise it above his 長，率いる and 手渡す it to the 経営者／支配人 in the 支援する of the neck. He dropped, covered with dirt. The waiter caught my 注目する，もくろむ and grinned.

"I 借りがあるd him that one," he panted.

Weakly I pointed to another palm, but he shook his 長，率いる.

I の近くにd my 注目する，もくろむs. The din had 沈下するd a little. There was more panting and いっそう少なく shouting.

The 列 at the 出口 had broken the door 負かす／撃墜する and got away.

I felt a soft 手渡す on my forehead.

"How are you, Jack?" said Steak.

"All 権利, Daisy," I replied feebly, gazing up at her. "Got all the spoons."

"絶対. Did you see Stanley?"

"No. What's the 事柄 with him?"

"I think he's dead."

"Good!" I exclaimed, and の近くにd my 注目する，もくろむs again.

"You won't leave me, Daisy?" I whispered.

"No, Syrup," she crooned, kissing me on the ear.

"Police!" yelled someone from the doorway.

I sat up.

Daisy gripped my 手渡す tensely, and then relaxed.

"They always get you in the end," she said sadly. "The only thing to think of, is which end they'll get you in."

"Stop Stanley!" I cried as I saw him 急ぐing past. She tipped the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する over, bounded across it and tripped him up, while I 緊急発進するd to my feet.

"He knows a way out, if any one does!" I exclaimed.

"George!"

"Maureen!" 叫び声をあげるd Steak.

"Mary!" bellowed George.

"Come on! Come on!" shrieked Stanley, struggling to get loose from my 支配する.

"Yer not goin' ter leave Woggo, are yer!" cried the drunken Simpson, dragging the unconscious Slatter に向かって us.

A （人が）群がる 殺到d past us and 急襲するd, jostling, 負かす／撃墜する the stairway.

They met the police coming in.

"This way!" shouted Stanley, breaking loose.

George hoisted Slatter on to his 支援する and we dashed after Stanley.

負かす／撃墜する steps. Flights of them. 木造の ones. 石／投石する ones. Through doors. Past 閉めだした 地階 windows. Over crates and バーレル／樽s. Then out into a little dark 小道／航路. I leaned against the 塀で囲む, breathless. George put Woggo 負かす／撃墜する on the pavement.

"My crikeys!" he panted.

"Stanley," I said hoarsely, "run up to the next 封鎖する and get the taxi."

"And get pinched!" he ejaculated scornfully.

"I'll go," said Steak. "They won't take any notice of me. 持つ／拘留する these spoons."

I told her where to go and sat 負かす／撃墜する on the kerb to wait.

"My crikeys!" said George, squatting beside me.

"Heard you the first time," snapped Stanley. "What the devil made you start all that uproar?"

"My...Gee!" muttered George dazedly.

"Woggo seems to be comin' 一連の会議、交渉／完成する," said the drunken Simpson.

"Knock him again," said Stanley callously.

Maureen stooped in 前線 of George and patted him on the cheek.

"Mary," he bleated.

"Ah, George, you're wonderful!" she sighed.

I got up and walked away. Stanley strolled after me.

"You know," he muttered, "we're just as likely to be pinched here. The police are bound to search the 地階 and find the place where we got out."

"What the 炎s did you bring us here for then!" I exclaimed.

"Not to （軍の）野営地，陣営 in the gutter for the night," he replied hotly.

"You wait till I get you home, my boy! I'll teach you to be continually getting your father into trouble!"

"Ar!" he growled.

The car rolled up in time to save any active unpleasantness.

"Say!" 不平（をいう）d the taxi-man as we flocked に向かって it, "this ain't a omnibus."

"That's all, 権利," I 再結合させるd. "We'll fit in all 権利. George, you get in and let Maureen—Mary—sit on your 膝s. Daisy can sit on Slatter. Arrange yourselves."

Somehow, we squeezed in.

"Let her go," I said, slamming the door.

"Where to?" queried the driver.

"Just go," I snapped.

We went.

CHAPTER XXVI

My grandfather used to say, when in the throes of his rheumatism and casting his mind 支援する to his 法廷，裁判所ing days when the grass was damp, "広大な／多数の／重要な oaks from little acorns grow." And I 井戸／弁護士席 remember my grandmother's description of the vagaries of life. "First it's one thing and then it's another, something leads up to something else and this and that, and before you know where you are—there you are!" It is wonderful what trouble one's little mistakes will engender. The Creator carelessly leaves a speck of protoplasm on a 静かな world, and, damn it all, there's Stanley! I do not usually make mistakes and I very seldom misunderstand people, but I had made a terrible mistake about Slatter—with Stanley's 援助.

We had stopped in a 静かな street to 許す of some readjustment of the 乗客s. Slatter had 回復するd consciousness and 反対するd to Daisy sitting on him, explaining that he had lost money that way before.

"I'm sure," I said, "that Mrs Slatter would never think of such a thing."

"Oo?" said Woggo.

"Mrs Slatter!" giggled Steak. "Don't be scandalous!"

"You didn't get married to me while I was unconscious?" cried Woggo anxiously. "You wouldn't do a dirty trick like that on a man!"

"Blow in your ear and wake yourself up," exclaimed Daisy contemptuously. "I wouldn't send in the coupon if you were a 解放する／自由な 見本. What put that horrible idea into your nut, Jack?"

"Stanley said—Hey, Stanley!" I growled, しっかり掴むing him by the collar, "what made you tell that despicable 嘘（をつく）?"

"You said that Maureen's brother, One-攻撃する，衝突する Mulligan, was after me for tipping her out of the 味方する-cart, and tried to 脅す me..."

"I 港／避難所't got a brother," interrupted Maureen.

"There you are!" cried Stanley gloatingly. "Who's a liar now?"

"Strikes me you both are," said George loftily. "Up at 分裂（する） 激しく揺する..."

"Ah, don't give us any more about 分裂（する） 激しく揺する," moaned Stanley.

"Tell me some more about 分裂（する） 激しく揺する, dear," cooed Maureen, patting George's cheek.

"What did you run away for, that time at the races?" 需要・要求するd Woggo, gruffly. "And 'oo started the brilliant idear of chasin' me 一連の会議、交渉／完成する and hittin' me on the 直面する every time they seen me?"

"Now let's get this straight," said Stanley.

"You shut up," I snapped. "You've 原因（となる）d enough trouble. It's a pity you weren't born dumb."

"'E was," put in Simpson sleepily.

"Now, first of all, Woggo," I said, "there was the 出来事/事件 at the races. I thought you were annoyed when you saw me cuddling Daisy, and you looked so belligerent that I thought it best to leave."

"I—"

"Wait a minute. Then you chased me. After that, you （機の）カム 一連の会議、交渉／完成する to my home and tried to waylay me. Then Stanley took Maureen out in his モーター-cycle and 衝突，墜落d with her. She （機の）カム with you, Simpson, and Daisy to the house to get her 復讐 on the pair of us—"

"復讐, nothing," interrupted Eggs. "You've got bees!"

"We were hiding in the wardrobe when you were in the room. I distinctly heard you say, 'We （機の）カム here to get them, and we're going to get them.'"

"Me 誤った teeth!" she shrieked. "Me 誤った teeth, you fool! They got 揺さぶるd into the 味方する-car when we 衝突，墜落d. You don't think I'm going to 支払う／賃金 nine guineas for a 最高の，を越す 始める，決める for Stanley to cart 一連の会議、交渉／完成する in his 味方する-car?"

"井戸／弁護士席—" I mumbled, 一打／打撃ing my ear as I do when puzzled.

"Now, listen ter me," said Woggo. clutching at my tie and gazing 真面目に into my 直面する. "I done me roll on that—Useless Annie. I comes up to the stand for the 単独の 目的 of bitin' yer ear for a few quid, and yer bolts! 'Ow was I ter know y' was broke? I runs after yer and loses y' in the （人が）群がる. Daisy tells me that yer broke too, so I calls 一連の会議、交渉／完成する to your 共同の later on ter see 'ow yer gettin' on and—"

"'S all a mistake," interrupted Simpson. "'S all a bloomy mistake. An' all I get out of it is a 黒人／ボイコット 注目する，もくろむ. Look at it!"

"What a beaut!" exclaimed Stanley admiringly.

"Nobody 'it me, mind yer! Some dirty cow threw a 議長，司会を務める."

"What a thing to do!" Stanley exclaimed.

"Yes. I wouldn't 'a' minded if it had been one o' them sorta brawls, but it was just a nice, 静かな, fren'ly fight, an' open to everybody—an' the dirty cow must go an' throw a 議長，司会を務める!"

"井戸／弁護士席," said Steak, "are you all 始める，決める now? I'm so 乾燥した，日照りの I'm beginning to 勃発する in little 割れ目s. What about shaking 手渡すs all 一連の会議、交渉／完成する and calling it a draw?"

"Good idea, my love," I agreed, leaning に向かって her.

"Shake, Rocky," said Woggo, 申し込む／申し出ing his 手渡す to George.

"You don't mind me left 手渡す, Woggo, do you?" replied George, blushing.

"Of course he doesn't," put in Maureen, hurriedly.

They shook. We all shook.

"Have you finished?" 問い合わせd the driver sarcastically.

"On with the cattle-トラックで運ぶ, slave," ordered Daisy.

"Home, James!" cried Stanley.

"Step on it, 惑星."

"Look here!" he exclaimed 怒って. "If you think you can pile into my car like it was an 救急車 and 侮辱 me and—"

"Move yer cart along or I'll 押し進める yer 直面する in," growled Woggo, sticking his chin out.

We moved.

"What's the 指名する of that friend of yours?" 問い合わせd Steak.

"You don't mean Flannery?"

"That's him."

"Driver!"

"Oh, I know," he snapped. "No need to tell me."

I became silent after this. Steak sat on my 膝, with her cheek against 地雷, and smoked. The 残り／休憩（する） talked. Wild talk, for the most part, like that which might have been heard in the inns of Port 王室の when 著作権侵害者s forgathered to tell of 流血／虐殺 and 略奪する in the bad old days when rum was rum. George told tales of dreadful doings in 分裂（する） 激しく揺する to Maureen who listened with the light of wonder in her 注目する，もくろむs and the 低迷 of utter 退屈 in her 団体／死体.

Stanley listened to Slatter and Simpson, with his mouth open, like the little boy whose uncles have returned from the Barracoons with green parrots and knife 負傷させるs. They told of "dongings" of policemen, of the fight at the Butchers' Picnic at Neilsen Park, of （警察の）手入れ，急襲s escaped, and "good things" 首尾よく 交渉するd.

They may have been bad company for the boy, but they were healthy. Time has shed a glow of romance over the old buccaneers, the 著作権侵害者s, the smugglers, the gamesters and the blades who ran each other through in a 冒険的な spirit in the days that are dead. When our police 行政 has become so 効果のない／無能な that there is no longer the 誘惑する of the spice of danger in 罪，犯罪, the bad men will die out, and 未来 小説家s will beguile our chinless 子孫s with tales of Benny the Blower, who blew the 前線 out of the 国家の Bank because he didn't like the architecture.

I fully realize, as a good 国民, that 私的な 所有物／資産／財産 is sacred and that no man should be robbed except by the proper 商売／仕事 methods, but somehow the 冒険的な malefactors of this world 控訴，上告 to me more as men than people like my rotten landlord, who goes to church on Sunday and has the damned hide to call for the rent on Monday.

The driver took advantage of our 最大の関心事 and took us about eight miles さらに先に than was necessary before he at last 設立する Flannery's. I felt at peace with the world, さもなければ I might have 辞退するd to 支払う／賃金 him. But I am no man to muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn.

Flannery was in bed with his wife, a toothache, and other minor （民事の）告訴s but he （機の）カム to the 支援する door and let us in.

"Surprise party, Flannery!" I 知らせるd him.

"Is it going to be 襲う，襲って強奪するs?" he 問い合わせd testily.

I nodded.

"井戸／弁護士席, I'm going to bed!"

"Be yourself, Flannery!" I 抗議するd. "A 襲う，襲って強奪する of whisky will banish your toothache and put you in good with the wife."

We got in after a little argument.

It was rather disappointing. Maureen whispered in horrified トンs that she never touched it, and craved lemonade. George looked uncomfortable and said he'd have a lemonade too. Steak kicked Slatter on the 脚 and said that they very seldom drank but would have one weeney little one for friendship's sake. All this for Maureen's and George's 利益.

"George," I said, "take Mary 負かす／撃墜する to our place and sit on the gas-box till we come."

熱望して and obediently they left with their 瓶／封じ込めるs of lemonade.

"Now then," I said, gazing around. "First of all, a 襲う，襲って強奪する of whisky for the taxi-driver, to mellow him."

"Don't want any," he replied curtly.

"Bowl him and 持つ／拘留する him," said Stanley.

Woggo 押し進めるd him in the 直面する, Stanley sat on his chest, Simpson held his 脚s and I held the 襲う，襲って強奪する.

"Will you 受託する my 歓待?" I asked.

"No, damn you!" he shouted.

"Not so loud!" whispered Flannery. "It's late!"

"Screw his ear," 示唆するd Stanley.

Woggo screwed it. Simpson pinched his 脚.

"All 権利," he muttered at last. "Let me up."

We 許すd him to get up and stood around the 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業 and watched him sip it while we sipped our own.

He finished it in half an hour, and then つまずくing to Woggo, leaned with both 手渡すs on his chest, and looking up into his 注目する，もくろむs pleadingly, said "Bowl me again."

We put him out the 味方する door and draped him over the radiator of his car where he would be warm.

"A man who gesh drunk li' that shouldn' be 'lowed to 運動 carsh," said Simpson.

We put him out と一緒に the taxi-driver.

"'E '広告 a bit of a start on us at the Blue Garter," said Woggo, わびるing for his friend. "Is that Flannery's brother?" he asked, pointing to Flannery who had fallen asleep on the 反対する.

"Who?" asked Steak.

"The bloke sleepin' next to him."

Steak and I led him out and sat him in the taxi, and stood glumly on the pavement.

"Jack," she said, "this is very unsatisfactory. You せねばならない break open a shivoo."

"A party?"

"絶対. George can 発表する his 約束／交戦 to Mary."

"You don't mean it," I gasped.

"It's a fact. Mary's never seen any one so soft in all her life and she's fallen for him. She likes him. Truly."

"井戸／弁護士席 I'll be damned—and so will George," I exclaimed.

"Mary's all 権利, Jack. What about a shivoo?"

"Righto," I sighed. "To-morrow night."

I felt sorry for George.

We stood for a while in silence, 直面するing each other.

I liked Daisy. I still like her.

"井戸／弁護士席, I suppose we'd better break up," she sighed at last.

"What about George and Mary? Better go and get them."

"Oh, they'll last out the night on the gas-box. Don't worry them. What are you going to do?"

"Go home, I suppose."

She leaned against me and fumbled with the 高く弓形に打ち返す of my ear. The wail of a steamer サイレン／魅惑的な （機の）カム floating eerily up from the distant harbour.

"Mary's lucky," she said softly.

I had nothing to say and didn't answer.

"井戸／弁護士席," she said after a long pause, "better go."

She kissed me.

"It's too late to go. Come home with me," I said, feeling tired and 哀れな.

She patted my cheek.

"Sorry, honey," she said, "but I'm not...I suppose you've got your own little opinions, but I drink and smoke a bit and take what I can get. I have my fun but...I like you, Jack. You understand, Jack?"

I nodded. My 長，率いる was aching and the night 空気／公表する seemed to be 冷淡な.

"But you can't go home with them," I said listlessly, nodding に向かって the 人物／姿／数字s around the car. "Let me take you home. Here's a car now!"

I あられ／賞賛するd it.

"Thanks, Jack. I'll go by myself. I'd rather go by myself. I'm a bit ratty to-night, I suppose. Kiss me, Jack."

I kissed her, while the taxi-man opened the door.

"Good night, Syrup!" she called gaily.

I waved my little hat which after all was too small.

I watched the tail-light of the car dwindle away in the distance, and then went home to bed. Stanley had gone home before me. Woggo, Simpson, and the taxi-driver would wake up in the morning and I left George and Mary whispering on the gas-box.

For a long time before I undressed I sat on the 辛勝する／優位 of my bed and nursed my aching 長，率いる, and thought.

I'm getting no younger. A man has to 直面する it sooner or later.

A man's a fool to drink 襲う，襲って強奪するs of whisky.

I'm old...

I wondered if Solomon sat on the 辛勝する／優位 of his bed when he said "All is vanity."

CHAPTER XXVII

When the day broke George was up to 観察する the fracture.

Somewhere about 4 a.m. he （機の）カム to my room and shook me. I could not, at the time, understand what he was 説 but at last sleep ebbed reluctantly away, my eyelids （機の）カム unglued, and I sat up.

"What's Stanley done now?" I 問い合わせd sleepily.

"Nothing. Come and see the sun rise, Jack."

"Where's it rising this morning?" I asked.

"Same place—what do you mean?"

"Go away," I growled. "A rising sun is nothing new to me. See one, you've seen the lot. I saw one years ago. It can rise without any help from me. If it can't let it 沈む."

I lay 支援する and shut my 注目する，もくろむs. I was so tired that I had almost fallen asleep when he spoke to me again.

"Jack," he whispered, "Mary and me are engaged."

"Who's the promoter?"

"Engaged to be married."

"Same thing. Don't come to me with your troubles. I 警告するd you and you took no 注意する, so it serves you damn 井戸／弁護士席 権利."

I kept my eyelids の近くにd.

"I don't think I'm worthy of her, Jack."

"You needn't think you can get out of it that way," I muttered feebly. "You've done it now. I wish you'd go away. I thought I'd got you out of this 分裂（する） 激しく揺する habit of getting up in the middle of the night 事実上, and stamping about the place like a wardsman in an Old Men's Home."

I dragged myself up to a sitting position again.

"I'm awake now, you fiend, if that's any なぐさみ to you. Why the devil didn't you 選ぶ on Stanley? Strike me pink, you're childish! When Stanley was a baby he used to wake at this very hour every morning, and sit up and crow and 'Goo' and はう all over me and put his foot in my mouth until I felt like sending him to an orphanage. Pity I didn't. Sunday morning, the only morning when I could 嘘（をつく） in bed and read the paper, he'd wake an hour earlier. What the devil's wrong with you, man! Go to bed and stay there till you feel civilized."

"But, Jack, how can I stay in bed..." he paused. "Love's a funny thing," he said softly.

"Ah, go away!" I snorted disgustedly. "Love must be a 爆破d funny thing if it gets you up at four o'clock in the morning to come and sit on my bed looking like a sheep with rickets and complaining about your 約束／交戦."

"I'm not complaining. I'm glad!" he remonstrated.

"Be gladwhile you can," I replied wearily. "I'd like to see Eggs getting up at four o'clock in the morning."

"What do you call her Eggs for?"

"Because you don't see the yolk at first sight. Go away. Go and talk to Stanley. Talk to him about Estelle. Ask him to tell you what he knows about Eggs."

"I will," he replied, getting up from the bed. "I'd like to know how a bad-mannered old nark like you ever got to know her."

He shut the door and I punched a dent in my pillow and curled up again.

Bad-mannered old nark! I'd get even with him. There are always plenty of ways to work off a grudge on a man who is getting married.

I remember when I was coming out of the church with Agatha on my arm, after receiving my life 宣告，判決. The junior clerk from the office, who had tried to borrow a 続けざまに猛撃する from me and failed, 攻撃する，衝突する me fair in the 支援する of the neck with an old boot. It had a hobnailed 単独の and was bought 特に for the occasion. He then wished me all possible happiness, 強調する／ストレスing the word "possible."

Thinking of my own wedding and Stanley's babyhood, 始める，決める my mind wandering along the cobwebbed years. I remembered the day we bought the furniture. And the day Stanley was born. I thought it was 広大な／多数の／重要な, I remember. Went up to Flannery's and shouted all 手渡すs.

Haw! What a fool a man is! And yet—I had some good times with Agatha before Gertrude arrived on the scene. Married life is not so bad for a man with the 権利 見通し on life. You need a sort of baggy-膝d temperament. I 港／避難所't got it. Very few men have, but they either acquire it, or get 離婚d, or 自殺.

My thoughts were becoming blurred and mingled with dozey dreams when the door flew open and Stanley burst into the room and pulled up against the bed.

"What's up!" I exclaimed.

"Look, dad! Look what that damned brother-in-法律 of yours did to me!"

I looked. His 注目する，もくろむ was swollen. The shades of eventide were 製図／抽選 over it and it would soon be 黒人／ボイコット.

"What did you get it for!"

"Nothing, dad!" he cried.

"Cheap," I said. "Sit on the bed and tell me all about it. I'm the 的 this morning, I can see. Spit it out."

"He （機の）カム up to me and woke me as if I was a fowl hanging 支援する a bit on the perch. The sun's only just up! He started to talk and then asked me how we （機の）カム to know Daisy and Mary, and asked me what I knew about his Mary."

"Yes."

"井戸／弁護士席—I told him."

"HINC ILLAE LACRIMAE," I murmured.

"What's 'at?"

"Another 指名する for a 黒人／ボイコット 注目する，もくろむ. You may go now. If there are any more of the afflicted that want to sit on my bed, tell them to wait outside. I'm getting up now. Go and わびる to your Uncle George."

He went away, 悪口を言う／悪態ing.

I was 星／主役にするing at the bed-rail, thinking about getting up, when George entered with a cup of tea, a nobbler of rum, and a plate of prawns.

"Breakfast, Jack," he said, pulling a （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する up to the bed. "I'm sorry I said you were an old nark. Not cranky are you, Jack?"

"Go and わびる to Stanley," I said, peeling a prawn.

"I'm going to take him up some breakfast. I'm sorry. He's only a boy. I'll go and get him a piece of steak for his 注目する，もくろむ as soon as the butcher's is open. I'll わびる to him, too. I didn't think I 攻撃する，衝突する him so hard—only a tap."

"All 権利. Where's the 残り／休憩（する） of the rum? I've drunk that 見本 you brought in."

He の近くにd the door softly and 板材d 支援する to the kitchen.

Wonderful, the difference a woman will make in a man. Poor George!

I imagined him わびるing to Stanley. And I thought of Stanley borrowing a few 続けざまに猛撃するs from him on the strength of it.

At lunch-time I rose, bathed, dressed, and dined. There was much to be done. Stanley and George （疑いを）晴らすd away the dishes, I 手渡すd a pencil and a sheet of paper to Stanley and we seated ourselves.

"Now then," I said. "About this party."

"What party?" they queried.

"I'm giving a party to-night. Sort of 再会. I thought you knew about it. Steak is coming, and Slatter and the 残り／休憩（する） of them."

"Who else?" asked George.

Stanley reached for the telephone directory.

"We'll start from the A's," he said.

"We'll do nothing of the sort," I snapped. "I had a taste of your methods at our last party. This is my party, and it's going to be a 静かな, respectable turn-out. George is going to 発表する his 約束／交戦 to Mary."

"Aw, gee!" exclaimed George feebly.

"Now as regards the expenses," I continued, "I think we'd better 株 them."

"Oh, 井戸／弁護士席 it's our party," said Stanley.

I raised the eyebrow.

"I'll do the managing," I said 静かに.

"The 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる） of guests, must be carefully 収集するd. We want no roughnecks—and 非，不，無 of the Boys," I said, ちらりと見ることing meaningly at Stanley. "Put these 指名するs 負かす／撃墜する, Stanley. First of all, after Steak and the ギャング（団）—Flannery."

"Yes."

"Flannery's chucker-out, the two barmen and the girl from the 私的な 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業."

"Go on. This is going to be select, all 権利."

"The milkman—he kept up 井戸／弁護士席 last time—the postman, McLavish..."

"Who's McLavish?"

"He 作品 at the パン屋. He's Scotch, so they let him put the currants in the buns. Then we'd better 招待する 寺 from next-door. 'Hokum' Kennedy; he's the second best poker player at the 宿泊する, and..."

"持つ／拘留する on," said Stanley. "Aren't there any women at all?"

"We—e—ell," I said, rubbing my ear, "the only women I know would 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 a small 料金 for 存在 現在の, unless—what about the taxi-driver?"

"Good," said Stanley. "He'll get some. Will two carloads be enough?"

"Hm. I suppose so. Put it 負かす／撃墜する, anyhow. Two carloads of women."

"I don't think we need bother about all this," put in George. "What about the refreshments?"

"Ah!" said Stanley. "Five 事例／患者s of lager, five..."

"Stop!" I cried, "I'll arrange about that with Flannery."

Stanley's ideas of 歓待 belong to the days when they roasted whole bullocks on spits and the guests 棒 in 大軍 with 刺激（する）s on, and the 村人s danced on the green. I'm not niggardly but at the same time I'm no 封建的 baron.

After long discussion we had our 計画（する）s 完全にする.

Stanley went out in the 主要道路s and the byways 問題／発行するing oral 招待s. George tidied the house and after きれいにする the laundry laid 負かす／撃墜する a few 捕らえる、獲得するs on the 床に打ち倒す in 事例／患者 any of the guests should want to settle a 論争. I went into town and bought cigarettes and spittoons. Somehow, I could not feel enthusiastic about the party.

As a 事柄 of fact, if Daisy had not について言及するd it I would never have thought of it. I felt depressed. The old worries were returning like homing pigeons. Stanley; I had to start him off in life somehow. As for myself, I would have to go to work again soon—or perhaps I wouldn't. What did it 事柄? Then Agatha. Where would all that rotten 商売／仕事 end? 悲惨 piled upon me like 構内／化合物 利益／興味. The bluer I got, the bluer I got.

As the afternoon wore on I tried to brighten up and smile but I felt like a washing-machine salesman knocking at his hundred and ninety-eighth door, and the nearest I could get to a smile was to pucker up the corners of my mouth and show my teeth.

The milkman, our first guest, rolled up at seven o'clock. He left his cart outside and turned the horse loose on the 前線 lawn. He explained that he had to start work at an 早期に hour in the morning and it would save him trouble to have his cart and horse handy.

There was room enough on the lawn for the horse to 嘘（をつく） 負かす／撃墜する, 供給するing he lay 負かす／撃墜する lengthways, so we threw a carpet over him and left him contentedly browsing.

Next （機の）カム McLavish, looking eager but worn. 心配するing, he had not eaten during the day, and he 申し込む／申し出d me fourpence of the eightpence he had saved. The Scotch are a proud people and he did not wish to he under any 義務 to us. We gave him a 挟む and something to drink and sat him on the gas-box to mind the horse until the 残り／休憩（する） of the guests arrived. 膝s, chest and 支援する, 覆う？ here and there in some pink curtainlooking stuff with beads on, arrived and was あられ／賞賛するd loudly as Estelle and taken into the 製図／抽選-room.

George and I stood at the gate and waited long.

"Mary hasn't come yet," nrurmured George, peevishly.

"She'll come, if she has to do it on a 担架," I 保証するd him. "This is her last chance to retire from the 階級s of the Gimmes, and she knows it."

"What do you mean?"

"See me in six months' time. Here comes somebody."

A Rolls-Royce guided by Woggo slid silently to the kerb, with eight men inside.

"'Ow she go?" he called cheerily.

"All out!" he bawled to the other occupants. "投げ上げる／ボディチェックする up to see 'oo takes the bus 支援する."

"Take her 支援する! What for?"

"We can't leave it here, Brains. S'posin' the owner seen it ?"

There was a 取引，協定 of 不平（をいう）ing.

"Aw'権利," said Woggo. "Just run 'er up to the corner and leave 'er. 投げ上げる／ボディチェックする two at a time. The last bloke in, loses."

He strolled over to us.

"Brought along a few friends," he said. "All pretty 'andy with their mitts. Keep the party respectable. Decent 暴徒, they are." He turned as a 抱擁する negro with a mouth like a squashed inner-tube and what looked like a tartan 控訴 touched him on the 肘.

"Ah's 貯蔵所 illuminated from de composition," he drawled.

"This is me sparrin' partner, Cocoa Collins," said Woggo. "One er the 暴徒."

We passed him on to McLavish.

"This is Smacker," continued Woggo, as another of the 除去するd ones strolled up. "'E's a 消防士 at the Crematorium."

We shook 手渡すs and sent him in to Stanley.

"'E's the bloke wot invented the sayin', 'Do you know Fat 燃やすs?'" whispered Woggo. "Very clever bloke but a 'orrible liar."

The car purred softly and swung out from the kerb.

"The little bloke what's drivin' the car is a bit of a 襲う，襲って強奪する. 'E was a certainty to take the car 支援する but 'e don't know it. Forgit 'is 指名する. Y'know Dogsbody," he 追加するd as Simpson （機の）カム to the gate in 前線 of five more men. "The big bloke with the chewed ear is the ex-'eavyweight champeen of Tasmania," he continued, pointing them out one by one, "Bung Thomas, 'is 指名する is."

"This is Mickey, the door-keeper at Watson's two-up school. 'E's only little but 'e's all there. The other three is Johnno, Corpsey, and 後援. 予選 boys. Ten rounders, and 非，不，無 of 'em work. Any'ow you'll know 'em all before the night's out."

"Glad to 会合，会う you, boys," I said, "George, go inside and give the boys a gargle."

"Where's Mary?" asked George dolefully.

"She's comin' with Daisy, later on. Gotter get 'er '空気／公表する curled or 'er 直面する 解除するd, or somethink," put in Woggo. "'Ullo! 'Oo's this?"

"Carload, number one," I 知らせるd him.

Our taxi-driver honked loudly on his horn, and drew up at the gate.

"Seven," he called. "支援する in ten minutes with another bunch."

"Sheilas!" gasped Woggo as the girls clambered out of the car.

"Take them inside and introduce yourselves," I said. "George, go inside and make them at home."

Flannery appeared, carrying two 控訴-事例／患者s.

"The boys are bringin' the 残り／休憩（する）," he panted, "and there's plenty more when that's gone. Let me in."

George （機の）カム out again and peered up the street.

"Where's Mary?"

"She'll be here," I said, 根気よく. "Go and start the gramophone."

He hovered about fretfully for a while and then went inside.

I heard a 衝突，墜落 and the tinkle of 落ちるing glass; one of the dining-room windows. The party had started.

寺 leaned over his gate and waved both 手渡すs excitedly.

"She's gone out!" he shouted hoarsely. "Taken the kids with her!"

"権利 inside," I directed, 開始 the gate.

Two men walked slowly past the house and then turned 支援する.

"Is this the Gudgeons' place?" 問い合わせd the younger of the two.

I told him that it was.

"Is Stanley at home?"

"Stanley!" I yelled. "You're 手配中の，お尋ね者!"

He （機の）カム to the door with his sleeves rolled up and a corkscrew in his 手渡す.

"Who wants me? Oh, it's you!" he cried, 前進するing. "Dad, this is Mr Wills of the DAILY HERALD."

"How do y'do," I said coldly as the young man put out his 手渡す. This was the man who had dragged my 指名する into print and notoriety.

"Mr Sloove," he said, 示すing his companion. "会合，会う Mr Gudgeon. Mr Sloove is putting up for this 地区 in the coming 選挙s," he 追加するd.

"Come inside," 招待するd Stanley.

They followed him into the house and 衝突する／食い違うd with George coming out.

"Where's Mary?" he whined.

"Ar, go away!" I growled.

A 小旅行するing-car, with Maureen and Daisy in the 支援する seat, 一連の会議、交渉／完成するd the corner.

"Mary!" bawled George. "Mary!" he bleated, and started to climb the 盗品故買者.

"You'll find it easier to use the gate," I advised him, "or wait till she gets here."

The car pulled up as he leapt the 盗品故買者. Mary stepped out and was （海，煙などが）飲み込むd, and I 急いでd to welcome Daisy.

"Step 権利 inside, driver," she said. "Hello, Sweetness!" she cried, turning to me. "How's the 団体／死体?"

"Come inside," I said. "Leave those fools to 運命／宿命 and the horse."

I 行為／行うd her through the hallway.

Inside, the 倍のing doors which separated the bedroom from the dining-room had been wrenched off their hinges by the heavyweight 支持する／優勝者 of Tasmania. There was nothing wrong with the doors only that they wouldn't 倍の, and although it seemed a 激烈な method of 安全な・保証するing 付加 space, it was necessary. Most of the guests were sitting on the 床に打ち倒す and the place looked like the steerage of a coolie migrant ship. The taxi-driver's girls were やめる at home. One of them was playing the piano I had bought for Stanley—he had learnt a few 規模s on it and then decided that music was not in his line—while she played, another one of the carload did a new sort of step on the 最高の，を越す of it.

"They 港／避難所't warmed up yet," said Daisy, 調査するing the scene with an 専門家 注目する，もくろむ. "What they want is an excuse to start warming. I know all about parties. Better let George make his 告示 now. That'll be a start."

While I was looking for George and Mary, the taxidriver landed his second consignment, and Flannery's staff entered with more 控訴-事例／患者s.

George and Mary were sitting on the wash-tubs in the laundry.

"Come out of that," I 命令（する）d. "This is where you make your first 誤った step in public, George. Take Mary inside and tell the company you've been 罠にかける."

"Aw...Crikey! Jack..."

"Go on!" I 勧めるd. "Drag him in, Mary! You roped him, don't let him get away unbranded."

Mary dragged him in. I heard him painfully stuttering, "Ladies and gentlemen," and a silence descended on the 議会.

I walked out into the 支援する-yard.

元気づける and stamping, mingled with a little hissing and hooting told me that George had made the 告示 and I hurried in to drink the fool's health. Woggo was 提案するing the toast.

"井戸／弁護士席," he said. "This is the first time I ever seen a bloke slip and then come and skite about it. 'Owever, I wishes the pair of 'em good luck fer as long as they can stand each other. I dare say if 分裂（する） 激しく揺する passes Mary a belt in the 直面する every time she comes 'ome after midnight—things'll be pretty jake. 'Ere's luck. You'll need it."

A moment's silence, and then the party broke out. Somewhere a ukelele thrummed. The Boys had got in にもかかわらず my 警戒s.

Estelle plonked a few 公式文書，認めるs on her banjo. One of the carload spread herself out in 前線 of the piano. The milkman got out his saxophone, and hell broke loose to the tune of "I got 'em—She's lost 'em."

The party had been going an hour when I strolled to the 前線 door to see if the police were about. Someone standing outside the gate called me. It was Agatha.

"It's me, Jack," she said.

"Oh, it's you!" I replied. It was one of the rare occasions when I have been lost for words.

I went to the gate and we looked at each other for a while.

"I just thought I'd come along and see you," she said hesitatingly. "I didn't know I didn't think...is it a party?"

"Stanley's," I said, delving for my 麻薬を吸う. My fingers were shaking. She 選ぶd a flake of paint off the gate and 崩壊するd it.

"Looks like rain," I said.

She looked up. "Yes. Doesn't it?"

At last I 設立する my タバコ-pouch. It was empty.

"井戸／弁護士席, I suppose I'd better be going," she sighed, fooling around with her gloves.

"What did you want to see me for?" I asked after another pause.

"Oh...井戸／弁護士席...nothing, Jack. It doesn't 事柄 now. Are you keeping 井戸／弁護士席? You look thinner."

I opened the gate.

"Come inside and sit on the gas-box for a while."

"I think I'd better go, Jack."

I pulled her inside and shut the gate. We sat on the gas-box and she cried on my new 控訴. Between sobs, she told me her troubles. She had had a 列／漕ぐ／騒動 with her mother and Gertrude. They had said some dreadful things about me—and it wasn't true—she knew it wasn't true. She had left the place. She hated Gertrude. She hated everybody.

"Oh...Jack!" she sobbed.

I put my arm around her. After all is said and done, it's nice to put your arm around the same old waist—after a holiday away from it; and to find when you kiss that you get やめる a kick out of it.

Funny thing, married life. You get to know each other.

For instance, Agatha has a mole on her left hip. I hoped that it was still there. I 真面目に hoped that it was still there. Looking at that mole, I could say, "There's Agatha. That's my wife."

Then again, she has a funny little habit of wrinkling up her forehead before she smiles. Of course, any one who isn't married wouldn't understand. There are little mannerisms and tricks of speech that one gets used to. They become part of your life, somehow. Queer. It's hard to explain...

After about an hour we went inside. No one noticed us. They were playing Postman's Knock. They had to run three games at once because it was so long between knocks. Flannery had brought up the reserves.

I had a look around for Stanley but he had disappeared.

We were sitting in a little space on the 床に打ち倒す 近づく the piano when Daisy 設立する us.

"Hullo, Johnny! Who's the lady friend?" she asked, pointing a 挟む at me accusingly.

"Squeeze in next to us if you can," I said, "and 会合，会う the wife."

"I think we've met before," said Daisy doubtfully.

"Do sit 負かす／撃墜する, 行方不明になる—er—"

"Slatter, is the lady's 指名する, Agatha."

There was no fight. They just sat together and talked. That's the sort of woman Daisy was. Hard as nails, a woman of the world, and a good sport. She had tact. It is the tactful ones of the earth who keep it from 飛行機で行くing apart.

Woggo （機の）カム and stood over us.

"This 'ere Postman's Knock game gets on my 神経s," he growled.

"It'll peter out presently," I said, "then you can start something."

"If it doesn't peter, it'll 棺／かげり," said Agatha.

She was trying her best to enter into the spirit of the party, but I didn't see why she should drag the Apostles into it. 徐々に we gathered a little party of our own around us. George and Mary （機の）カム and sat opposite US. Bung Thomas, the Tasmanian 支持する／優勝者, squatted with his 支援する against the piano. McLavish （機の）カム つまずくing over the almost countless 脚s of the guests with a small ケッグ of beer clasped to his chest.

"All the sensible people are here," he grunted, ダンピング it on the 床に打ち倒す, "and it's here that I'll stay, and did y' see that feller Simpson? What's the 事柄 with the puir chap?"

"Yes," put in George, "he looks sick."

"He's sober," explained Woggo. "First time for three years. Been savin' his かわき for to-night. 'E'll be all 権利 presently. 'Ere's Smacker."

Smacker leaned across George and whispered huskily to Woggo. "Cocoa Collins just threw three young fellers over the next-door 盗品故買者 because they arst 'im if 'e was 黒人／ボイコット all over. 'E's gettin' a bit out of 'and."

Woggo turned to the ex-支持する／優勝者. "Bung, go and bowl 'im and chuck 'im out."

"Will one be enough, do y' think?" queried Smacker.

"'E's pretty wild."

"Stand outer the way," growled the big man. "'E's a lime soda for me. Jammed in between two lions, 'e wouldn't make a decent 挟む for me."

"Cocoa goes like that when 'e's elephants," explained Woggo. "We gen'決起大会／結集させる dongs 'im and chucks 'im out."

"Elephants?" queried Agatha in a puzzled 発言する／表明する.

"Elephant's trunk," said Steak.

"Drunk, missus," explained Woggo, "only we don't について言及する it in 前線 of ladies."

It is a little humiliating to have one's wife 陳列する，発揮する her ignorance in public, but I said nothing to Agatha. She always was like that.

It was becoming difficult to converse without shouting, and the noise was 増加するing every minute. Smacker and Bung returned 静かに and 発表するd that the negro had been thrown out on the footpath and that the milkman's horse was sound asleep.

"Sleepin' like a little baby," said Smacker, "and talkin' of babies reminds me of the time I was firin' on the HOMOSTOLE before I 調印するd on at the Crematorium."

He squatted 負かす／撃墜する next to us.

"I just come off watch and I'm leanin' over the rail talkin' to the bosun."

"I told yer 'e was a liar," whispered Slatter, warningly.

"And while I'm talkin' to 'im, 'e starts cryin'. I says, 'Wot's the 事柄, 法案?'—法案, we use ter call 'im—and 'e tells me. It appears when 'e got 'ome trip before last, 'e 設立する 'e '広告 a little son and 'is wife dunno wot to call it. So 'e says, call it Arethusa after the ship 'e was a 'prentice on, and when the christenin' party is on, and 法案 割れ目s the 瓶／封じ込める of シャンペン酒 over the baby's forehead, the poor kid rolls over 屈服するs first, and 沈むs. 消すs it. 'E was that 削減（する） up, I felt sorry for 'im, but all the same, the kid couldn't 'a' been too strong in the first place, and wot I says is—"

"Sing us a song, George," interrupted Slatter in a disgusted トン.

"Oo, yes, George!" cried Mary. "Do sing. I didn't know you could sing."

"Neither does anyone else," I 発言／述べるd.

"Go on, George!"

"Aw, don't be silly!" gasped George.

"Mary, make him sing," said Steak. "Make him recite 'Gunga Din' or something."

"I can't sing and I can't recite," gabbled George, growing panicky. "But I'll tell you what I'll do," he 追加するd brightly, "I'll show you the muscles on me 支援する."

Feverishly he peeled off his shirt.

"Isn't he lovely?" said Mary.

"Put yer shirt on, quick!" growled Woggo. "The 暴徒'll think y' want to start something."

"I think," muttered McLavish, "I think—I think I'll start the gramophone."

He kicked the empty ケッグ away and つまずくd off.

We had just arranged ourselves when he returned.

"They won't let me have the gramophone," he growled sullenly.

"'Oo won't let yer 'ave it?" asked the heavyweight.

McLavish pointed solemnly into, the （人が）群がる.

"Them."

"Come with me."

"There'll be a fight 'ere before long," said Smacker as the pair wandered away together.

"I suppose so," agreed Woggo, taking off his coat.

"Oh, Jack! Don't let them fight!" pleaded Agatha.

"All 権利," I 保証するd her. "I'll stop them. Wait for me, Woggo. Coming, George?"

George dragged himself unwillingly to his feet and we 選ぶd our way through the （人が）群がる. I had 推定する／予想するd a fight. It is my opinion that if there is no fight at a party, the party isn't a success. Parties have degenerated these days. The old time shivoos and picnics where there was tea and スキャンダル for the women, and ginger-beer and sticky toffee for the kids, and beer and fights for the men, were better than the modern 見解／翻訳／版. In those days, the young man who didn't come to work on Monday morning with either a 黒人／ボイコット 注目する，もくろむ or a 頭痛, must have spent the week-end in 刑務所，拘置所 or in bed. A fight livens up the evening and 少しのd out the 望ましくないs, and if modern hostesses only had the 企業 to arrange a brawl の中で the guests, the 現在の 退屈 of the social 一連の会議、交渉／完成する would not 存在する.

It was not much of a fight, 存在 事実上 finished at the end of five minutes, but the gramophone was torn in halves during the struggle and a few of the girls got trampled on. Three men 含むing McLavish were knocked out and were subsequently stacked in the laundry to 回復する consciousness. I went 支援する to where I had left Agatha to tell her about the fight 存在 only a trivial 不一致, but she had gone. Stanley caught 持つ／拘留する of me as I was going upstairs to look for her.

"Gee, dad! You've had a 狭くする escape!" he whispered hoarsely.

"Oh, it never had any glass in it," I replied, referring to the picture-でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れる someone had 攻撃する，衝突する me with.

"I don't mean that," he said impatiently. "I've just got you out of a lot of trouble, and you can thank me and the Boys for it."

"Thanks," I said. "What was the trouble?"

"Why, ma was here! Sitting next to the piano as large as life!"

"It's all 権利, dad. She's gone now. I asked her to come outside and I and the Boys helped her into a car and Fussy's 運動ing her 支援する to Chatswood. Didn't want to go either!"

"Damn it all!" I roared. "Who's Fussy?"

"One of the Boys."

"Spare me days!" I yelled. "What have you done now. I 招待するd your mother in here!"

"Ar," he 不平（をいう）d disgustedly. "Call yourself a father! Here I go and do you a good turn and go to a lot of trouble—what with ma struggling and all that—and all I get for it is 乱用."

I sat 負かす／撃墜する on the 底（に届く） step of the stairs and sighed.

"I thought I was doing the 権利 thing, dad," he 抗議するd.

"All 権利, son. All 権利. I suppose you meant 井戸／弁護士席. Leave me now."

He 小衝突d past me and 上がるd the stairs. Had I known what his 栄冠を与えるing 行為／法令／行動する of the night was to be I would have felled him with a blow and requested his 国外追放 of the 政府. As it was, I just cupped my chin in my 手渡すs and thought. 運命／宿命 pokes its stubby, 干渉するing finger into everything. I have lived a 十分な life and I have learnt that it is useless to 抗議する. Things will happen. Man, rough-hewing his 運命 with the blunt axe of 推論する／理由, sees the 長，率いる 飛行機で行く off his axe and his 運命 bashed into a shapeless lump. When this happens a few times, as it has happened to me, one feels inclined to 減少（する） the axe, sit on a スピードを出す／記録につける, and say to 運命／宿命: "Hew it yourself."

During the hour 事前の to her 施行するd 出発 I had made up my mind to 許す Agatha and take her 支援する. She had returned to me chastened, submissive, and repentant; with those 質s 新たにするd which I had once admired. When a man has been married for twenty years and is past the forty 示す he cannot afford to lose his wife. Wireless 始める，決めるs, footwarmers, and a seat on the club 委員会 are not enough and, その上に, if he has been able to 許容する the woman for twenty years, he may 同様に see it out to the bitter end. It was only in the last two or three days that I had begun to realize how I 行方不明になるd Agatha. For instance, she always knew where I had left my 麻薬を吸う and somehow or other she could always find my studs. During the whole period of her absence I hadn't had a decent bowl of pea-soup. Just when I realized my necessity, she （機の）カム 支援する.

And just as she （機の）カム 支援する, 運命／宿命 had stepped in and taken her away again. I wondered why 運命／宿命 seemed to 住む Stanley's 団体／死体 almost continuously.

The party had quietened 負かす／撃墜する かなり. There was a （土地などの）細長い一片-poker party in the dining-room and a drinking party in the bedroom 隣接するing. Couples whispered here and there in corners, a few stupid ones sang determinedly around the piano and the 女性 大型船s slept and mumbled in strange 態度s. I strolled past the strippoker （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, noticing as I passed that most of the girls evidently could not play poker and that Smacker was sitting behind a 決まりきった仕事 紅潮／摘発する. I watched him see a bet of one camisole and raise it a pair of suspenders and a singlet, and then joined the other party.

I 設立する myself a couple of 瓶／封じ込めるs of whisky and sat 負かす／撃墜する. "You're not going to drink that on your own?" exclaimed 寺, who was lying on the 床に打ち倒す next to me with his 長，率いる propped up on his 肘.

"There's plenty over there for you," I replied, pointing to the stack.

"But, man, you'll kill yourself!"

"I'm not worrying about that," I said, putting the 瓶／封じ込める to my mouth.

"He's drinking it out of the 瓶／封じ込める!" he shouted to the company.

"Etiquette, mon!" said McLavish, shaking his finger at me.

"'Member yer etti—hic!"

"Leave 'im alone," growled Woggo, thickly.

"Am I to sit here and watch a man drink himself to death!" shouted 寺. "I say nothing against a man drinking, but to drink like that...I regard it as my 義務 and as the 義務 of all of you, to stop this man, in his own 利益／興味s."

"Talk sense!"

"I am talking sense. It is for his own good and the good of those associated with him. I've seen this man, Gudgeon, chasing his own son all over the roof of this very house with a meat-chopper."

"Was 'e drunk?" 問い合わせd Woggo.

"Of course he was!"

"井戸／弁護士席, there may be something in wot you say. P'非難するs if 'e hadn't been drunk 'e might've caught 'im."

"Why, you're drunk yourself!" cried 寺. "You're all drunk. Mr Sloove," he said, pointing to the 政治家，政治屋, "and myself are the only two sober men here!"

"Bung," said Woggo, 軽く押す／注意を引くing the heavyweight. "Bowl 'im and stack 'im."

Bung Thomas rose unsteadily to his feet and rolled に向かって 寺.

"Erpologize, or I'll breathe on yer," he growled.

寺 mumbled a sullen 陳謝 and 沈下するd, glaring at me.

"Gentlemen," 発表するd Mr Sloove. "Mr 寺 has just について言及するd my 指名する to you and （刑事）被告 me of 存在 sober. I must 収容する／認める the 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 while not agreeing with his opinions of our worthy host."

I 屈服するd 同様に as I could, lying on the 床に打ち倒す.

"As a 事柄 of fact," he continued, "my presence here to-night is おもに 予定 to my young friend from the DAILY HERALD, Mr Wills. Knowing that Mr Gudgeon is a gentleman 井戸／弁護士席 liked and 尊敬（する）・点d in the locality, and an old 居住（者） of the 地区, I thought to 掴む the 適切な時期 of 連合させるing 商売／仕事 with 楽しみ by 演説（する）／住所ing a few 発言／述べるs—"

"Siddown!"

"I will not 疲れた／うんざりした you with—"

"Chuck 'im out!"

"簡潔に, the position—"

Woggo rose to his feet.

"Bung," he called.

Mr Sloove sat 負かす／撃墜する.

"Yes, Corpsey? Wot do you want?" said Slatter belligerently as a 長，率いる poked around the door.

"Sling me a coupla them sheets," said Corpsey, nodding に向かって the bed.

The sheets were passed out and presently he appeared の中で us wrapped up like a Roman emperor.

"Toughest game I ever played in," he muttered, dragging the 残り／休憩（する） of the bedclothes off the bed. "If Smacker was playing poker in Klondike 'e'd 'ave been 発射 as soon as 'e shuffled."

He threw the bedclothes into the 隣接するing room.

"Give one of them sheets to the fair '空気／公表するd sheila," he cried. "She's got a 冷淡な."

Another loser strolled in, barefooted and 持つ／拘留するing his trousers up, and brought his banjo with him. McLavish sang "Annie Laurie" and cried 激しく. The milkman sang "The 星／主役にする Spangled 旗，新聞一面トップの大見出し／大々的に報道する," "O Heart 屈服するd 負かす／撃墜する," "米，稲 McGinty's Goat," finished up with a little yodelling, and then went to sleep. We had "甘い Adeline" three or four times and we were all feeling pleasantly sad and comradely when Mr Sloove rose for the second time. His 直面する was 紅潮／摘発するd and he 機動力のある the only 議長，司会を務める in the room and stood swaying uncertainly.

"Gentlemen," he said, speaking with painstaking distinctness, "with Mr Gudgeon's 許可 and in the distinguished presence of Mr Bung Thomas, the greatest heavyweight Tasmania has ever produced, and also that 井戸／弁護士席-known 冒険的な man, Mr Woggo Slatter, I would like to say a few words."

"'Ear! 'Ear!" cried Thomas and Slatter.

"Our 尊敬（する）・点d friend, Mr 寺, who has just been carried outside, saw fit to make a few 発言／述べるs with which I 完全に 同意しない. It is on the 支配する of drink and drinkers that I wish to speak."

At this moment Simpson （機の）カム swaying happily into the room and 崩壊（する）d beside me.

"Don't make a noise," I whispered. "We're having a speech. Where have you been?"

"Owside with horsh," he gurgled. "Like horsh. Had a horsh once."

"Sh—hh!"

Mr Sloove seemed to have 逮捕（する）d the 利益／興味 of the 議会.

"Of course," he was 説, "there are people who will never drink. Subnormal freaks, or misguided in their 早期に 青年."

Stanley （機の）カム in.

"Dad," he whispered.

"Hush!"

"But, dad—"

"Shut up!"

"There are others who may be 変えるd," continued Mr Sloove.

"I have to my eternal credit, one 優れた 事例／患者. He was a 哀れな man for whom life held but little 利益／興味—"

"Dad!"

"Will you be silent!" I hissed at him. "Have you no manners—"

"But it's important—"

"Go away from me," I cried, 押し進めるing him away. "I'm sick of the sight of you. I don't care what you've got to say, I don't want to hear it."

He slouched out of the room, mumbling as usual.

"...Taciturn and morose, he was," continued the （衆議院の）議長. "Wrapped in his petty ideas of life and 楽しみ. In fact, gentlemen, he had never had a proper drink in his life."

There was a mutter of amazement from the audience. I noticed the young man from the DAILY HERALD taking shorthand 公式文書，認めるs.

(Our party was 述べるd as an orgy and a saturnalia in the next evening's paper. The hound! I got a copy of Mr Sloove's speech from him, though. Best speech I ever heard.)

"I 説得するd this man," continued Sloove, "to taste—just taste my 罰金 old brandy, two 事例／患者s of which 構成するd my late father's 広い地所. He was run over by a bus and couldn't finish it. He died a broken-hearted man. いつかs I think he haunts the cellar—spirit calling to spirit—but I digress."

"I 申し込む／申し出d this poor, water-logged waif the brandy."

"He smelt it. He sipped it. He sipped again, 熱望して. He 投げ上げる／ボディチェックするd it off. Then turning to me, he clasped my 手渡す, a look of reverent wonder in his 注目する，もくろむs. 'To think...' he said, 'all these years. And I never knew. I never knew!...Fill it up again!'"

A burst of 元気づけるs awoke Simpson, who started to clap.

Stanley （機の）カム in.

"Now, any night, I can go to his flat and find him lying under the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する—happy."

The （衆議院の）議長 waved his 手渡す.

"Alcohol! The last gift of the relenting gods. The simple word that makes life's crossword puzzle easier to elucidate."

"Listen, Stanley," I said. "If you come 近づく me again, I'll brain you."

"But, dad, the—"

"Ord'r!" growled Woggo.

Bung Thomas glared meaningly at Stanley who went into a far corner of the room and stood there making unintelligible 調印するs to me. Mr Sloove was 持つ／拘留するing a glass of lager out before him.

"How many paltry 人物／姿／数字s have ranted against it, shrieked their 非難," he cried, "and faded 支援する to the earth from which they come—to fertilize the vines."

"Gaze on your glass of beer."

We gazed.

"See how the lambent, lazy 泡s drift to the 最高の，を越す, as men drift through life; ぐずぐず残る a while in the froth, and burst of old age, or are 削減（する） off in their prime in 運命／宿命's thirsty gulp. This 天罰（を下す）, this shame, this liquid degradation—what is it?"

"'Ere!" 抗議するd Simpson, 怒って.

"It links the extremes of mankind in one ありふれた friendly girdle. The labourer 乱すing the 激しく揺するs of ages with his 選ぶ, and Shakespeare in his favourite inn—and Attila, the 天罰（を下す） of God, who died of too much mead."

"What's this mead? Where c'n it be got?"

"Look here, Simpson," I whispered. "Don't interrupt again. This man's a genius. Listen to him."

"Noah," shouted Sloove, "the greatest 航海士 of all times; 閉じ込める／刑務所d in the ark with his relations and a lot of other wild animals, drifting in a landless world. Chosen from countless teetotallers 溺死するd in their favourite drink; he landed at last on the lonely 頂点（に達する） of Ararat. When the awful 責任／義務 of beginning a new world had 緩和するd—what happened?"

Woggo shook his 長，率いる vigorously.

"The Bible says that his son 設立する him lying in the vineyard, his 支援する teeth awash and a happy, boozed smile on his 直面する."

Stanley had sidled up to me and touched me on the shoulder. I 鎮圧するd him with a look.

"Scots!"

McLavish looked up.

"Behold your Robbie 燃やすs. He died. Certainly, who doesn't? He drank himself to death! What of it? For every man who dies of drink, a thousand die of dinner-distended stomachs. Ask the man who owns one."

"What the hell are you looking at me for?" I 需要・要求するd, as Stanley 注目する，もくろむd my vest with a silly grin on his 直面する.

"Aw, nothing. Listen."

"Says the earnest 改革者," continued Sloove, "supposing, that instead of drinking whisky, you drank milk. Look at the 利益s to your health, your pocket, and the race in general. Against this horrible suggestion there is, thank heaven, a 石／投石する-塀で囲む fact, a gesture in granite, one 広大な／多数の／重要な unshakable answer. 'I don't like milk.'"

"It is an axiom of 経済学者s that 供給（する） follows 需要・要求する like the 血 follows a punch on the nose. We want beer. Therefore there is beer. Peer into the murky mystery of your orange phosphate. What do you see? A 化学製品 研究室／実験室. A bit of this 存在 追加するd, a bit of that tipped in. And in the translucent depths of booze? Hop-fields, rippling acres of barley, and whistling boys in the 日光, 選ぶing grapes. You would have me drink this coloured 注目する，もくろむ-lotion? Consider, then, this awful 可能性."

"Two old friends 会合，会う."

"'法案! Why, you old son of a gun!'"

"'Where've you been? 港／避難所't seen you for years!'"

"A moment of happy grins, of 殺到するing happy memories, of 手渡す-shakes truly meant."

"'井戸／弁護士席—井戸／弁護士席—井戸／弁護士席!'"

"Glad. ぎこちない. Lost for words."

"'Come and have an orangeade!'"

He paused, while a wave of horror swept over the company.

"I ask you!" he exclaimed passionately.

Stanley sprang to his feet and took advantage of the momentary silence.

"Gentlemen!" he yelled. "I have a very important 告示 to make..."

I 投げつけるd myself at him and grabbed him by the throat.

"Out!" I shouted, 押し進めるing him に向かって the door.

"'Ear! 'Ear!" cried Woggo. "If yer interrupt again Bung'll bowl yer. Wont yer, Bung?"

"Too 権利, I will," muttered Bung, savagely. "'E's spoilin' a good speech."

I returned to my seat on the 床に打ち倒す.

Sloove （疑いを）晴らすd his throat.

"Alcohol is a necessity," he said. "The craving for food is 認めるd as 合法的, even though the rabid vegetarian 捜し出すs to snatch the chop from his brother's mouth. Yet I am asked to 満足させる my 願望（する） for a drink with water! Water! Empty jam-tins are all 権利 for goats but a hungry dog wants meat. We are but dust, 追加する water, and we are mud."

"Why, when the world was first made it was all water, until the mistake was seen and 修正するd, and land made 利用できる for hop-growing."

"A course," agreed Simpson.

"I don't want to disparage water. It is an excellent medium for sailing boats in, washing, cooking, and irrigation. It is an 成分 of most アルコール飲料s. But to drink it in its raw 明言する／公表する! Watch a drinking fountain in Pitt Street. You'll stand for hours and see it undisturbed, save for the mooning messenger boy who stamps on the button to see the water squirt."

Stanley had come in again and was standing next to me fidgeting nervously with his fingers.

"As to those who have tasted アルコール飲料 and liked it not, 井戸／弁護士席, they do 存在する; but about them we need not bother. They are akin to the horse that drinks water and the calf that guzzles milk. 進化 will 少しのd them out. 欠如（する） of the booze taste is 欠如（する） of virility and they cannot 生き残る. Is there any more expressive word in our language than 'Milksop'? And what is it but a weak sopper of milk, a lemonade lapper, a cocoa gargler?"

"'Yo! 売春婦! And a 瓶／封じ込める of raspberry!' Absurd, isn't it?"

"My 誓い, it is."

"にもかかわらず our modern education there are fools who have never tasted drink, lunatics who have, and don't like it, and 疫病／悩ます-位置／汚点／見つけ出すs—肯定的な menaces—who 捜し出す to 廃止する it!"

There was a general movement of uneasiness.

"Ah, friends. If you would learn, come with me beneath the bough. I'll bring the bread and the thou. I can't 耐える all the expense. We shall transform that wilderness and people it with pink lizards and blue monkeys with hats on. Be saved while the かわき is still on you and you shall have 接近 to a land where every prospect pleases, and only の近くにing time is vile."

"And I—when I have sunk my last マリファナ, when my foot no more 残り／休憩（する）s on the rail, and old Time calls, 'Six o'clock, sir!' then carry me to the 緊張するs of the Little Brown jug and lay me on my bier...'And in a winding-sheet of vine-leaf wrapt, so bury me by some 甘い gardenside.'"

"Till then...Here's luck!"

There was a moment's silence, a silence that was only marred by a curious sound coming from somewhere upstairs. Then suddenly the 議会 burst into a roar of delighted 賞賛. They stamped their feet, whistled piercingly, and 元気づけるd and clapped.

Mr Sloove smiled, and 試みる／企てるing to 屈服する, fell off the 議長，司会を務める. There were a dozen 手渡すs to help him rise.

"Dad!"

"井戸／弁護士席, what is it?" I snapped.

"The house is on 解雇する／砲火／射撃."

"Eh!"

"Upstairs, dad. I was showing Estelle my photograph-album up in my room and I must have dropped a cigarette on the bed. We were so busy looking at the album and all that, I didn't notice—"

I 押し進めるd him aside and 肘d my way through the （人が）群がる to the foot of the stairs. A long arm of 黒人／ボイコット smoke stretched lazily 負かす／撃墜する to me as I stood gazing up, and a belch of 炎上 showed for an instant on the upper 上陸. It 夜明けd on me that I had heard this crackling noise fully a ４半期/4分の1 of an hour ago, I had smelt this odour of things 燃やすing and 大（公）使館員d no importance to it. I had seen the wisps of smoke はうing along the 天井 and had thought it to be just more タバコ-smoke with which the lower part of the house was 煙霧のかかった.

Someone called me and I returned to the bedroom. Slatter 手渡すd me a glass of ワイン.

"Drink this to the 'ealth of Mr Sloove," he cried, slapping me on the 支援する. I raised my glass and drank with the 残り／休憩（する） to Mr Sloove's very good health. Then I raised both 武器 above my 長，率いる and called for silence.

"Gentlemen," I said. "It is my unpleasant 義務 to 知らせる you that the party must 終結させる at once. The upper 部分 of the house is on 解雇する／砲火／射撃, but please do not 急ぐ away. There are a number of our friends asleep in these two rooms and I would like you to carry outside those who are incapable of walking and wake the others. Thank you, gentlemen."

For a few seconds they hesitated, on the 瀬戸際 of panic, until the 厳しい 発言する／表明する of Woggo Slatter brought them to their senses.

"Any one wot tries to bunk out the door gets donged by Bung. Don't 'e, Bung?"

"Too 権利, 'e does."

"Each bloke will carry a 団体／死体 with 'im as 'e goes out and it wouldn't be a bad idea if 'e took a 瓶／封じ込める or two with 'im 同様に. We can't let everything 燃やす."

There was a 急ぐ to 安全な・保証する the stricken ones.

"Smacker!" shouted Woggo. "Go out to the laundry and see if there is anybody there that 'ain't 回復するd yet. If there is, lump 'em out."

"Aye, aye, sir!"

Like the captain of a 沈むing ship, I waited till all the 残り／休憩（する） had gone and then, in a dazed 条件, walked slowly out.

I remember I locked the 前線 door and put the 重要な under the mat.

I felt ill. About fifty of the guests were sitting in a 列／漕ぐ／騒動 on the kerb on the opposite 味方する of the road, chattering excitedly, and as I turned from the door and made toward the gate they fell silent and each one of them 星／主役にするd at me curiously. I felt like some 広大な／多数の／重要な tragedian walking on before a hushed and （人が）群がるd house. A （人が）群がる of 観客s was 集会 quickly and the windows and balconies of the opposite terrace were festooned with 直面するs.

The （人が）群がる on the kerb （疑いを）晴らすd a little space for me and I sat 負かす／撃墜する. I heard dimly a quick patter of footsteps coming along the road, I felt the （人が）群がる give way and step aside, and then Agatha flung herself 負かす／撃墜する beside me, with her 武器 about my neck.

"Johnny! Johnny! What have they done?"

I tried to 押し進める her away.

"Leave me alone," I muttered.

"They carried me out of the house—they took me away—my own son—and now the house is on 解雇する／砲火／射撃. Oh! My poor Johnny!"

Woggo patted her gently on the arm.

"Don't worry 'im. 'E looks as if 'e's sick. Sit 静かな."

I felt her arm 緊張した about my shoulders.

"Is everyone out of the house, Jack?" she whispered tremulously.

I staggered to my feet and gazed around while she stood beside me and supported me.

"Where's George and Mary?" she cried.

George and Mary were not there.

"I'll go and look for them," I said.

"I'll go," growled Woggo.

"I'll go," I replied すぐに and, crossing the road, entered the house. A cloud of dense smoke rolled over me as I opened the door and I clung weakly to the door 扱う before going in.

I felt feeble and ill and my 膝s seemed as if they were no longer dependable.

"George!" I called. "George!"

I made my way into the dining-room and the smoke curled around me as I opened the door. George and Mary were sitting in the little corner the piano made with the 塀で囲む. George was nursing her and their 直面するs were の近くに together.

I shook him by the shoulder.

"What's the 事柄?" he snapped gruffly.

"The house is on 解雇する／砲火／射撃."

"井戸／弁護士席, why didn't you tell us before!" he muttered peevishly.

He kissed Mary on the forehead.

"We'll have to go, love," he crooned.

"Oh, George! Must we?"

I got them out at last.

Stanley met me at the gate.

"What a gorgeous 炎, dad!" he exclaimed enthusiastically. "The whole 最高の，を越す of the house is alight."

I tottered on past him and he followed me.

"Gee! There's ma 支援する again! Can you （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域 it!"

He dodged away and stood by Slatter and I called out to them.

"Slatter," I said wearily, "why doesn't the 解雇する／砲火／射撃 旅団 come?"

"Gee, I never thought of that!" exclaimed Stanley. "I'll go and put in an alarm now."

He gazed around excitedly and then 秘かに調査するing the milkman's horse, stamping nervously 近づく by, he bounded to it, leapt on its 支援する, and clattered up the roadway, shouting "解雇する／砲火／射撃! 解雇する／砲火／射撃!" in a 発言する／表明する of hilarious enjoyment.

I staggered 支援する to my seat beside Agatha.

"Hadn't we better try to save something while there's still time?" she asked anxiously. "There are plenty of men here."

"Let it 燃やす," I replied. "It's all insured."

I did not discover until later that the 政策 had lapsed and 没収されるd its usefulness for want of 通貨の 激励.

The 直面するs around me were lit up by the rosy glow of the 燃やすing house. Cracklings and loud 報告（する）／憶測s, にわか雨s of 誘発するs and 花冠s of cavorting smoke 問題／発行するd from the dully roaring 炎上s. A window burst outwards and the glass tinkled across the road. A piece of it 宿泊するd at my feet and Ipicked it up. It was hot.

Three 解雇する／砲火／射撃-engines swept, clanging, around Flannery's corner and scattered us from the kerb. 厚かましさ／高級将校連 helmets glistened, orders were shouted, the quick pulsing of the pump モーターs 始める，決める up their rhythmic throb and the first jet of water burst spitting from the nozzle and hissed through a 炎上-lit window.

"Get 支援する there! 権利 支援する!" shouted a policeman.

We （人が）群がるd 支援する on to the verandas of the opposite terrace.

"You too!" he 命令（する）d, 押し進めるing Stanley in the chest.

Stanley 辛勝する／優位d 支援する reluctantly and stood beside me on the veranda.

"着せる／賦与するd in a little 簡潔な／要約する 当局," he shouted 激しく. "It's coming to something when a 市場 can't look at his own 解雇する／砲火／射撃 that he started himself."

Five jets were playing on the 前線 of the house. The wet street glistened and the gutters gurgled with a 重荷（を負わせる） of water. Lines of bloated 靴下／だますs sprawled across the roadway like 広大な／多数の／重要な, grey, torpid snakes. The smoke rolled above the house-最高の，を越すs and 審査するd the moon.

"Looks as if they're too late to save the 共同の," said Woggo, who was standing behind me. "The roof'll go any minute now."

"The balcony will come 負かす／撃墜する before the roof," said Stanley.

"I'll bet it don't!"

"What'll you bet?"

"I'll bet two to one on the roof," snapped Slatter.

"You're on!" said Stanley 熱望して. "Ten 続けざまに猛撃するs to five."

"Put yer money up—give it to yer father."

They 手渡すd me the money.

"Roof's a certainty," said Woggo gloatingly. "Yer throwin' yer money away."

"Oh, am I! Look at that balcony. There's only one 木造の joist that's not burnt through. The balcony will romp home!"

"We'll see," 不平（をいう）d Woggo, gazing tensely at the roof.

Stanley patted me on the 長，率いる.

"Hang on to that money, dad. I'll be 支援する presently."

"Where's 'e going?" queried Slatter, his gaze still 直す／買収する，八百長をするd on the roof.

I sat 負かす／撃墜する. I was too weak to stand. Little 有望な specks danced before my 注目する，もくろむs when I の近くにd them. I was shivering continuously and my 手渡すs shook so that I could scarcely 持つ／拘留する the glass that Simpson 申し込む／申し出d me.

Agatha 設立する me and sat next to me.

"I've been talking to George," she whispered. "He's going to 火刑／賭ける you to a little ham and beef shop in the 郊外s. Isn't he a dear?"

I nodded feebly.

"Mary and he will be married as soon as they can arrange it and George is going 支援する to his farm. They'll spend their honeymoon on the farm. Won't that be lovely ?"

Mary, the Gimme! On a farm!

"Don't look so dreadful, Jack. Try to 元気づける up, there's a good boy. Things could be worse, When we get the ham and beef shop we can be together—what are you trembling for?"

"I'm not 井戸／弁護士席," I moaned.

She rambled on. Trying to 元気づける me, I suppose.

I seemed to be 事情に応じて変わる into unconsciousness when Stanley put his foot on my 手渡す and stepped on to the veranda.

"Har!" exulted Woggo. "Now wot d'yer think of yer chances?"

"I'm game to 二塁打 the bet," replied Stanley coldly.

"Give it to yer father."

More money changed 手渡すs.

I gazed once again on the 解雇する／砲火／射撃. The roof was 発射 through with 炎上s. The upper 床に打ち倒す had burnt through and fallen, and the balcony was a centre of 炎上. A 消防士 on a ladder was 注ぐing water on to the roof. As I watched, the 支援する 塀で囲む of the house 衝突，墜落d inwards and the roof 沈下するd a foot.

"Roof!" shouted Woggo.

The balcony crackled ominously and leaned outward.

"Balcony! You beauty!" shrieked Stanley.

"Roof! Roof! Roof!" roared Slatter.

"Balcony! Balcony! Come on, balcony!" 叫び声をあげるd Stanley, jumping up and 負かす／撃墜する.

"Roof! Roof! She 勝利，勝つs!" bawled Woggo as the roof tottered before its downfall.

The roof hung. Both of them were silent, 星／主役にするing intently into the 炎上s.

"Balcony! Balcony! Balc—balc—balc—balcony! She's home!"

衝突，墜落 went the balcony. The roof disappeared with a roar and in a 嵐／襲撃する of 誘発するs.

"Beaten by a-neck!" 悪口を言う／悪態d Slatter.

"It was fair, wasn't it!" 需要・要求するd Stanley.

"Ar, yes. I ain't whinin'. You'll 'ave to lend me me fare 'ome, but."

"That's all 権利. Give me the money, dad."

I felt in my pockets. It was gone.

"It was in my pocket a minute ago," I mumbled. "Simpson will tell you that."

"Simpson's not here!"

"Ar, 井戸／弁護士席 that's where it's gone," chuckled Woggo. "'Ard luck, son."

"石／投石する the crows!" 嵐／襲撃するd Stanley. "What—"

"Stanley!" snapped Agatha. "Not another word out of you!"

He mumbled viciously. "How am I going to 支払う／賃金 the 消防士?" he 需要・要求するd sullenly.

"Did you square the 消防士 to squirt my roof!" yelled Woggo. "I thought there was some dirty work."

Stanley bounded toward the street.

"Come 'ere!" shouted Slatter.

I remember seeing Stanley sprint up the street, and leap into the saddle of his モーター-cycle, and then an enormous green elephant seemed to walk from out the very centre of the flickering 廃虚s of the gutted house. I 叫び声をあげるd and swooned...

I've been out of hospital a week now. My life was despaired of and I 苦しむd frightfully. The doctors told me that I had アル中患者 毒（薬）ing but I know that it was something 完全に different and far more serious. Something to do with a nervous 決裂／故障. I suppose they didn't want to 脅す me with the truth.

Simpson recommended me to this sanatorium I'm in now. It is all 権利 and they 扱う／治療する me 井戸／弁護士席, but it seems that very man here is 苦しむing from the 影響s of continued over-indulgence in intoxicants. I am the only 本物の 事例／患者 of nervous prostration in the place. I was annoyed at first, but as my health 改善するs I become more tolerant of other people's mistakes. Just to please Agatha I 調印するd the 誓約（する） while I was in the hospital.

I'd have 調印するd anything.

Agatha has taken Mary's place and is 株ing Steak's flat until I am 井戸／弁護士席 enough to take over the ham and beef shop. They 約束d to visit me to-day. So did Flannery.

I hope Flannery doesn't fail me.

Stanley has not been sighted since the 解雇する／砲火／射撃, but Agatha had a letter from him in which he asked if it would be 安全な to come 支援する, now that I am 回復するing my strength.

I have decided on a career for him. I've just written this letter:

To the 長官,

Department of 航海.

DEAR SIR,

I should be 大いに 強いるd if you would put this request before the proper 当局.

It is my wish to place my son, Stanley Gudgeon, in a position for which he is fitted, and I think your department may be able to do something for him in that 尊敬（する）・点. He is going on for twenty years of age and is a 有望な, smart boy and 公正に／かなり 井戸／弁護士席 educated, having been 熟考する／考慮するing for the Public Service examinations for some time. Mr Sloove, M.P., will vouch for his character.

If there is any 可能性 of a vacancy occurring on the staff of some 公正に／かなり remote lighthouse I shall be 深く，強烈に 感謝する if you would remember my son.

Thanking you in 予期,

I am, sir,

Yours faithfully,

J. GUDGEON.

That's that...

Here comes, Flannery! Thank God!

THE END

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