That, for a season, was the end of Barney Bill, and Paul found
himself thrillingly alone in London. At first its labyrinthine
vastness overwhelmed him, causing him to feel an unimportant atom,
which may have been good for his soul, but was not agreeable to his
vanity. By degrees, however, he learned the lay of the great
thoroughfares, especially those leading to the quarters where
artists congregate, and, conscious of purpose and of money jingling
in his pocket, he began to hold his head high in the crowded
streets. In the house in Barn Street, off the Euston Road, where he
lodged, he was called "Mr. Paul" by his landlady, Mrs. Seddon, and
her thirteen-year-old daughter, Jane, which was comforting and
stimulating. Jane, a lanky, fair, blue-eyed girl, who gave promise
of good looks, attended to his modest wants with a zeal somewhat out
of proportion to the payment received. Paul had the novel sensation
of finding some one at his beck and call. He beckoned and called
often, for the sheer pleasure of it. So great was the change in his
life that, in these early days, it seemed a3 if he had already come
into his kingdom. He strutted about, poor child, like the prince in
a fairy tale, and, in spite of Barney Bill's precepts-lie outgrew
his boots immediately. Mrs. Seddon, an old friend of Barney Bill,
whom she addressed and spoke as Mr. William, kept a small shop in
which she sold newspapers and twine and penny bottles of ink. In the
little back-parlour Mrs. Seddon and Tane and Paul had their meals,
while the shop boy, an inconsiderable creature with a perpetual cold
in his head, attended to the unexpected customer. To Paul, this boy,
with whom a few months ago he would have joyously changed places,
was as the dust beneath his feet. He sent him on errands in a lordly
way, treating him as, indeed, he had treated the youth of Budge
Street after his triumph over Billy Goodge, and the boy obeyed