The Town Traveller

ad received many a knock-down blow, and always came up fresher after it. Mrs. Clover's veto upon his tender hopes with regard to Minnie had not only distressed, but g

ery marriageable man; on that very account he had made her his ideal. And Mrs. Clover would help him as a mother best knows how. The shock of learning that Mrs. Clover would do no such thing utterly confused his mind. He still longed for Minnie, yet seemed of a sudden hopelessly remote from her. He could not determine whether he had given

rmanency"; at his age it was time he settled into a life of respect able routine. But for his foolish habit of living from hand to mouth, now in this business, now in that, indul

find a "berth" or a "billet" for some out-at-elbows friend, and in a surprising number of cases he was able to make a useful suggestion. It would have paid him to start an employment agency; as it was, instead of receiving fees, he very often supplied his friends' immediate necessities ou

ilities of the case, and after a day or two spent in looking up likely men-which involved a great deal of drinking in a great variety of public resorts-he came across an elderly traveller who had represented Quodlings on a northern circuit, and who boasted a certain acquaintance with Quodling the senior. Thus were things

y, "are these Quodlings any relation to

of a deep tumbler, and continued

do yo

n. Happen to know th

s-Quodling senio

asked Gammon, as th

e been told there was a lawsuit years ago, something to do with the will of Lord somebody, who left money to old Mrs. Quodling-who wasn't o

tered Gammon

on't have anything to do with his brother. He's nothing

he liked to track things out. Some day he would have another look at Quodling the broker, who so strongly resembled Mrs. Clover's husba

es. Now he would wave a hand to a friend on the pavement or borne past on another bus; now he would chuckle at a bit of comedy in real life. Huge hotels and brilliant shops vividly impressed him, though he saw them for the thousandth time; a new device in advertising won his ungrudging admiration. Above all he liked to find himself in the Strand at that hour of the day when east and west show a double current of continuous traffic, tight wedged in the narrow street, moving at a mere foo

tacle when an odour of cloves breathed ac

. Gammon? Well, if

recognized her as a friend of Polly Sparkes, Miss Waghorn by name, who adorned a refreshment bar at the theatre where Polly sold programm

Gammon; glad to meet you, sir. I

ds lately, and now it's going to be something else.

betrayed

sk you how y

d with you on the Underground not very long a

vation, Carrie," said the Gillingwat

seven" replied the young lady with a throat

ood, sir?"

. Is it true, do you know, that Mi

ame, too, for I know he got it very cheap, and there was a fortune in it. T

on't s

g paltry, such as a couple of thousands. It was not idle boasting, such opportunities had indeed come in h

red the young lady presently, again send

t to know," he ans

ou was sure to know what it was, Mr. Gammon. She

does, d

it's I don't know who. To hear her-she's been used shimeful. She says s

wine-shop. Mr. Nibby whispered to Miss Waghorn, who dropped

to a glass of d

you are

artitions as at a pawnbroker's; each compartment had a high stool for the luxuriously inclined, and along the wall ran a bare wooden bench. Not easily could a less inviting place of refreshment have been constructed; but no such thought occurred to its frequenters, who at this hour were numerous. Squeezed together in a stifling atmosphere of gas and alcohol, with nothing to

od," said Gammon wit

domestic plot for sending Polly to "Coventry"-a phrase, by the by, which would hardly have been understood in Mrs. Bubb's household; he argued that it might do her good, and that in any case some such demonstration was called for by her outrageous temper. If Polly could not get on with people

gs-a most unusual thing-she had just despatched her children to school, and was now in conflict with Moggie about a broken pie-dish, which the guilty general had concealed in the back-yard. A prudent man in the face of such tempers,

k? It's her uncl

Wha

as 'as been giv

" asked Gammon, w

e, she says, 'When you see my awnt,' she says, 'you tell her I know all about her 'usband,

e. Mrs. Bubb meant to be strictly truthful, but in the nature of things she would have gone astray, even had Polly's message taken a much simpler form than wrathf

rousers. She said that? And to think we never th

eave to-morrow, and looks as if she meant it

n ref

ere to-night; say it's very important. We'll

ome before half-pa

a cab for Mrs. Clover to go home in. Tell her to be here at eight. Stop. You mustn't

lie," remar

r ain't living in Belgrave Square, or some such place. Just the kind of thing that happens with these mysterious johnnies. She'll have com

e Polly

let her keep a thing like this to herself? You just wait and see. Leave it to me, that's all. Lu