his future earnings; a Paul lodged in a small but comfortable
third-floor-back, a bedroom all to himself, with a real bed,
mattress, pillow, sheets, and blankets all complete, and a
looking-glass, and a stand with ewer and basin so beautiful that, at
first, Paul did not dare wash for fear of making the water dirty; a
Paul already engaged for a series of sittings by Mr. Cyrus Rowlatt,
R.A., his head swimming with the wonder of the fashionable painter's
studio; a Paul standing in radiant confidence upon the brink of
life.

"Sonny," said Barney Bill, when he said good-bye, "d'yer see them
there lovely lace-up boots you've got on?"

"Ay," said Paul, regarding them complacently.

"Well, they've got to take yer all the way up the hill, like the
young man what's his name?--Excelsure--in the piece of poetry
you recite; but they'll only do it if they continues to fit. Don't
get too big for 'em. At any rate, wait till they're worn out and yer
can buy another pair with yer own money."

Paul grinned, because he did not know what else to do, so as to show
his intellectual appreciation of the parable; but in his heart, for
all his gratitude, he thought Barney bill rather a prosy moralizer.
It was one of the disabilities of advanced old age. Alas! what can
bridge the gulf between fourteen and fifty?

"Anyhow, you've got a friend at the back of yer, sonny, and don't
make no mistake about it. If you're in trouble let me know. I can't
say fairer than that, can I?"