Page 187 - down-and-out-in-paris-and-london

foreigners, dressed in rags but manifestly gentlemen. They
were playing chess verbally, not even writing down the
moves. One of them was blind, and I heard them say that
they had been saving up for a long time to buy a board, price
half a crown, but could never manage it. Here and there
were clerks out of work, pallid and moody. Among a group
of them a tall, thin, deadly pale young man was talking ex-
citedly. He thumped his fist on the table and boasted in a
strange, feverish style. When the officers were out of hear-
ing he broke out into startling blasphemies:
‘I tell you what, boys, I’m going to get that job tomorrow.
I’m not one of your bloody down-on-the-knee brigade; I
can look after myself. Look at that—notice there! ‘The Lord
will provide!’ A bloody lot He’s ever provided me with. You
don’t catch me trusting to the—Lord. You leave it to me,
boys. I’M GOING TO GET THAT JOB,’ etc. etc.
I watched him, struck by the wild, agitated way in which
he talked; he seemed hysterical, or perhaps a little drunk.
An hour later I went into a small room, apart from the main
hall, which was intended for reading. It had no books or pa-
pers in it, so few of the lodgers went there. As I opened the
door I saw the young clerk in there all alone; he was on his
knees, PRAYING. Before I shut the door again I had time to
see his face, and it looked agonized. Quite suddenly I real-
ized, from the expression of his face, that he was starving.
The charge for beds was eightpence. Paddy and I had
fivepence left, and we spent it at the ‘bar’, where food was
cheap, though not so cheap as in some common lodging-
houses. The tea appeared to be made with tea DUST, which

1 Down and Out in Paris and London