The Dark House
ting on the earth's surface, and of his accidental, no less pathetic progression as a Survival of the Fittest. He gathered that even more than old Jaegers, Mr. Ricardo hated God Almighty and J
nd insults. It seemed to Robert sometimes that even the multiplication table wa
untidy, stuffy boarding-house where he lived, and wrote feverishly. What he wrote Robert did not know. There was an air of mystery about the whole business, as thoug
fools in this world than you could conceive possible. Thank your stars
al about Christine
de," was one of his dark sayings, "t
l's progress, but he was oddly excited, and when Christine invited him to share their meal-surely he could have seen there wasn't enough to go round, Robert thought-he accepted with a transparent, childlike eagerness that made Robert stare at
up his sharp nose in a kind of nervous anguish. "I have here an article published last week-you are a bro
ight fell on her two hands. Red and misshapen as they were now, th
us, Mr. Ricardo? My ey
red his
letter to The Times, which you may have see
s and spires, which on the ruins of their dull selves seemed to be built anew into a witchlike fantastic city, would be lost to him for another night. Robert did not want to hear about God and the origin of man now. He kicked im
. "That, surely, settles the controversy. He
nd opened her eyes,
him and held it to the light, and Robert turned, hoping that now he would really go.
shrivel-to cower back into himself. His fierce, triumphant energy h
ion-the stronghold of the worst bigotry and prejudice-for myself I should not care-I have always wanted t
er gently as though she
sary. Why should one sacrifice oneself
ched hi
ght error, M
trying to find something that would comfort him-just as she had once given Robert peppermint b
her with dark
you, th
oment he wavered on the steps, blinking, and
oman-you must be worth
imped down the steps and along the street, flitti
he was cleverer than boys older than himself. He could do things at once over which they botched and bungled. He outstripped them when he chose. Even his ignorance did not handicap him for long. For Mr. Ricardo had kept his promise. He taught well, and in those long afternoons in the hot boarding-house attic Robert had raced over the lost ground. He did not always want to work. He gazed out of the window, half his mind busy planning what he and Rufus Cosgrave would do when they met at the corner of the street, but he could not
u understand,
ne to stand by yourself, especially when you had one friend who thought you splendid whatever you did, who clung to you, and whom you had to protect. When he walked arm in arm with Rufus Cosgrave in the playground he trailed his
the biscuit factory, and with arms clasped about their scarred and grubby knees planned out the vague but glorious time that waited for them. Rufus was to be a Civil Servant. He did not seem to care much for the pr
her play the piano. But, of course, I wouldn't say
'll always say what I want to and do what I jolly well like
e hate you," Ru
sn't matt
nd people not
her
mbled an
o play in the eleven-and the chaps cheered you
s together in the portentous Stonehouse scowl. "It's silly to mind what silly people think. And kicking goals is no good. I'm going to be a
sighed
as awfully miserable until you came. If you went away-or didn't care an
I wo
e so much
being st
rine of the Survival, and Rufus began to
What'll happen to me? Anyone can
eks, and a sudden choking tenderness, a dim perception of all that this one
se I'll look after yo