of the Barons, Rob Roy! I looked them all in the face and was not
ashamed. I also was a gentleman.

My mother was much troubled when she saw me, but my father, hearing
the story, approved.

"But he looks so awful," said my mother. "In this world," said my
father, "one must occasionally be aggressive--if necessary, brutal."

My father would at times be quite savage in his sentiments.



CHAPTER IV.

PAUL, FALLING IN WITH A GOODLY COMPANY OF PILGRIMS, LEARNS OF THEM THE
ROAD THAT HE MUST TRAVEL. AND MEETS THE PRINCESS OF THE GOLDEN LOCKS.

The East India Dock Road is nowadays a busy, crowded thoroughfare.
The jingle of the tram-bell and the rattle of the omnibus and cart
mingle continuously with the rain of many feet, beating ceaselessly
upon its pavements. But at the time of which I write it was an empty,
voiceless way, bounded on the one side by the long, echoing wall of
the docks and on the other by occasional small houses isolated amid
market gardens, drying grounds and rubbish heaps. Only one thing
remains--or did remain last time I passed along it, connecting it with
its former self--and that is the one-storeyed brick cottage at the
commencement of the bridge, and which was formerly the toll-house. I
remember this toll-house so well because it was there that my
childhood fell from me, and sad and frightened I saw the world beyond.