I had known--what comfortable, well-fed gentleman does not?--that within
easy walking distance of his London home thousands of human beings live
like the beasts that perish; but never before had I spent an intimate
night in one of the foul dens where the living and perishing take place.
The awful pity of it entered my soul.
So deeply was I impressed with the responsibility of what I had
undertaken, so grimly was I haunted by the sight of the pallid, howling
travesty of a man and the squeezed-out, whimpering woman, that the
memory of the conflicting emotions that had driven me to Campion the
night before returned to me with a shock.
"It strikes me," I murmured, as I shaved, "that I am living very
intensely indeed. Here am I in love with two women at once, and almost
hysterically enthusiastic over a delirious tailor." Then I cut my cheek
and murmured no more, until the operation was concluded.
I had arranged to accompany Lola that afternoon to the Zoological
Gardens. This was a favourite resort of hers.
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