into the presence of the terrified woman.

He had simply asked for twenty pounds on the nail in return for his
silence.

And she, scared out of her wits, instead of threatening him with the
law, had given him a cheque--yes! a cheque--and he, with a flash of
that cunning which was to lead him eventually to a seat amongst the
plutocrats, had pocketed it and grinned.

"I doan' wan' mor' 'en twenty uv the best, lidy, jus' to mike a
start--an' I doan' wanter part wiv yer 'and-writin' niver. So jes' yer
send two rustlers, wot means notes, of ten pun each, rigistered, to W.
'ickle spelt wiv a haitch, 2 H'apple Blossom Row, Coving Gardin, afore
this toime ter-morrer. An' jes yer remember that h'as long as yer
lives I've got yer bit of 'andwritin.' I ain't goin' ter use it, but
some dye it might come in 'andy. 'Ardly loikly as 'ow yer'd buy twenty
pun wurf of veg from Wal 'ickle eh, lidy?--it 'ud want _some_
h'explanation."

Then this soul made in the image and likeness of his God and found
good, but hidden under the civilising process of the twentieth century
which had given him the morals of a jackal and the status of a pariah
dog, sighed as he looked round the dainty room.

"S'welp me," he said, as he touched a satin cushion with his coarse,
broken-nailed finger-tips, "h'if oi h'understand wye a woman the loikes
uv _you_, wiv h'everyfink she wants, cawn't run _strite_!"

"Oh! but," whimpered the woman, "it was all the fault of the fog,