Round the Corner

e a thousand boys, thou would'st spoil th

KNIGHT OF THE

gether with a spotty-faced youth in his office who sang comic songs (with patter) he went up and down our town and district giving "I'll Sing Thee Songs of Araby" and "To Anthea" and "There is a Lady Passing By," and winning much applause which invariably went to his head and made him very drunk. He sang under an assumed name, and no one at home knew what he was doing except Minna, whom he bribed with cigarettes to hold her peace. (She used to lock herself in the bath-room and smoke them out of the window.) When occasionally his mother complained that he was never at home in the evening he used to say that he was rehearsing. At intervals he used to [Pg 51]take part in private theatricals with the spotty-faced youth or other of his friends. The pieces generally given were the farces of Madis

ns and painters as a composer of bawdy verses. This man was a Scotsman, a hard drinker, and he was said to know every verse that Robert Burns ever wrote by heart, and also to have many poems that had never been printed. He used to write notices of the little performances in the Gentl

meet your fath

rred that his father might be admirable. Old Lawrie saw t

my sons are respectable. That's what's the matter with them, they're respectable a

f timidity under his paint. He had just come from the dress-

I've read their books. They pull everything to bits with their brains. Nothing left. They're a better lot than we are. Got no mor

estreen, Thou

rdon I sin

ne'er be a

my di

ne'er lift

ain up

ou lets the

y servant e'

re high and pr

e he's sa

hy hand maun

il Thou

rd, remembe

cies temp'r

r fear and gr

ell'd b

he glory sha

men,

His eyes flashed and his voice came big from his chest

So you're playing at play-acting, young man? That's what nine-tenths the world is for ever doing in its daily life. They ca' me a disgusting old man, but they should hear what I ca' them when my tongue's loosed and my mind's eyes seei

Frederic.

f laughter. He patted Frederic on the shoulder, pursed his lips and hummed through them strangely and vag

it is a pr

d rose in

t die with the

rampled i

eavy feet i

shod with

ity goes t

ed with lo

g is smoked

ife's a d

ls weep to s

e make He

ing individual with white hair and an enormous face, Joshua Ye

potty-faced youth and fo

said the spot

returned Frederic, amaz

g

and his sons lock him up. I know one of them-Bennett Lawrie-a bee-yooti-ful young man, High-Church and all that. May have been to your governor's show. The old ma

ade that up-about

ank verse. He was run in once, and he harangued

t he was not nearly so pleased with himself in his part as

mes passing and disappearing down the dark lanes that enclosed the bishop's huge garden. The spotty-faced youth, who had been impressed by Frederic's braggadocio of the things that were much better done in France, had introduced him to this exchange and mart of foolish emotions and transitory affections. They went there in search of pleasure and adventure, and they generally found th

g

ith tales of their escapades and the narrow squeaks they had had, and the great score it was to have a father

shut up I sh

d think you had a better sense of fun. You didn't s

ferent. Tha

s

rece' and 'Venu

ey're pre

Shu

fumbling-but he could not put his finger on it, nor could he discover why for the first time in years of folly he should feel a sense of shame. It grew on

one?" said the sp

h the girls and his companion had greeted them w

ouldn't come," sa

-faced youth. "Trust me wh

urch the tall girl and Haslam (that was the spotty-faced youth's name) walked on and disappeared into the darkness of the moors after arranging to meet again at ten. Freder

very p

etter than th

ederic, "I was at

e they very wic

mean by wicked. No mo

u won't tell

low of honesty. He had so often been Snooks an

Annie Lipsett. It

and moved away and he had almost lost sight of her in the darkness of the moor when he ran and caught her up. They passed through the posts that

rmuring. It was very dark and the clouds hung low and the wind was a little cold. They found a place to sit where through t

he others are," s

it m

N

d Lawrie, and he pursed up his lips as the old man had don

you h

for her to rep

in a beastly dirty [Pg 57]town and we wander about like lost souls. And because we be lost souls we take anything that comes alon

the girl

at. I'm damned

ie Lipsett. "Of cours

t all the other young women, to forget, to escape for a little while, to lose all thought of the beastliness of life down below in the town. It was beastly. Everything was so dirty, an

ill at ease and silent. Annie Lipsett clung to Frederic's arm and they walked down to the bishop's palace. There t

heir faces homew

n't touch her without her starting on t

ose not," s

looked

re a cautio

e same as you," retorted