A SIDE-LIGHT UPON APPEARANCES
He watched the last sway of her skirt, the last toss of her head, as she
ran down the hill of the Broad Walk, then, repeating mechanically to
himself:
_Jack and Jill went up the hill_
_To fetch a pail of water,_
_Jack fell down and broke his crown_
_And Jill came tumbling after,_
and, wondering what it all meant, wondering if, after all, those nursery
rhymes were really charged with subtle meaning, he made his way to
Victoria Gate in the Park Railings.
In the high road, he saw a man he knew, a member of his club, top-hatted
and befrocked. The silk hat gleamed in the sunlight. It looked just
like a silk hat you would draw, catching the light in two brilliant
lines from crown to brim. The frock coat was caught with one button at
the waist. Immaculate is the word. John hesitated. They were friends,
casual friends, but he hesitated. There might be two opinions about the
soft felt hat he was wearing. He found it comfortable; but one gets
biased in one's opinions about one's hats. Even the fact that the
evening before he had driven with this friend in a hansom for which he
had paid as the friend had no money on him at the time--even this did
not give him courage. He decided to keep to his, the Park side of the
Bayswater Road.
But presently the friend saw him, lifted his stick, and shook it
amicably in greeting. He even crossed the road. Well, after all, he
could scarcely do anything else. John had paid for his hansom only the
evening before. He remembered vividly how, on the suggestion that they
should drive, his friend had dived his hand into his pocket, shaken his
bunch of keys and said, with obvious embarrassment, that he had run
rather short of change. It always is change that one runs short of.
Capital is never wanting. There is always a balance at the poor man's
bank, and the greater his pride the bigger the balance. But at that
moment, John had been rich in change--that is to say, he had half a
crown.
"Oh--I've got heaps," he had said. It is permissible to talk of heaps
when you have enough. And he had paid for the whole journey. It was
not to be wondered at then, that his friend came amicably across the
road.
John greeted him lightly.
"Going up to town?"
"Yes--are you?"
John nodded. "Are you lunching at the Club?"
"No--I've got to meet some people at the Carlton--How's the time--my
watch is being mended."
"I don't know," said John--"my watch is all smashed up. It's just on
one I should think."
"As much as that? I must be moving on. Shall we get on a 'bus?"
The very thing. John acquiesced readily. He had nothing; a careful
calculation of what he had spent that morning will account for that.
But his friend could pay. It was his turn.
They mounted the stairs and took a front seat behind the driver.
"You'll have to pay for me to-day," said John. "My pockets are empty
till I get a cheque changed."
The blood mounted to the face of his friend. For a moment he looked as
though his beautiful hat were too tight for his head. He felt in his
pocket. Then he produced a little stamp case, with gold mounted corners
and one penny stamp inside.
"I'm awfully sorry," said he--"I--I've only got a penny stamp." He rose
quickly to his feet.
John laughed--laughed loudly.
"What are you going to do?" said he.
"Well--get off," said his friend.
"Sit down," said John--"there's no hurry."
"Have you got twopence, then?"
"No--not a farthing. But we're getting into Town, aren't we? We've got
nothing to grumble at."
When the 'bus had travelled another hundred yards or so, John stood up.
"Now, you come downstairs," said he. The friend followed obediently.
The conductor was inside punching tickets. John looked in.
"Does this 'bus go to Paddington Station?" he asked inquiringly.
"No--Piccadilly Circus, Haymarket, and Strand."
"What a nuisance," said John--"Come on--we'd better get off."
They descended on to the road, and the friend, immaculate, top-hatted
and befrocked, took his arm.
"I see," he said, and he looked back to measure the distance with his
eye.
There are more people in London with only a penny in their pockets than
you would imagine.