could force himself to pass the eating-house; once beyond its door, he
ran, ran until he reached his lodgings and slipped three sovereigns into
Mrs. Flitwick's hands.

"That'll make us right to this week end, Mrs. Flitwick," he said. "Put the
receipt in my room."

"And greatly obliged I am to you, Mr. Lauriston," answered the landlady.
"And sorry, indeed, you should have had to put yourself to the trouble,
but--"

"All right, all right--no trouble--no trouble at all," exclaimed
Lauriston. "Quite easy, I assure you!"

He ran out of the house again and back to where he knew there was food. He
was only one-and-twenty, a well-built lad, with a healthy appetite, which,
until very recently, had always been satisfied, and just then he was
feeling that unless he ate and drank, something--he knew not what--would
happen. He was even conscious that his voice was weakening, when, having
entered the eating-house and dropped into a seat in one of the little
boxes into which the place was divided, he asked the waitress for the food
and drink which he was now positively aching for. And he had eaten a
plateful of fish and two boiled eggs and several thick slices of bread and
butter, and drunk the entire contents of a pot of tea before he even
lifted his eyes to look round him. But by that time he was conscious of
satisfaction, and he sat up and inspected the place to which he had
hurried so eagerly. And in the same moment he once more saw Melky.

Melky had evidently just entered the little eating-house. Evidently, too,
he was in no hurry for food or drink. He had paused, just within the