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grass. He thought miserably of his deformity, which made
it impossible for him to go to the war. He went to sleep and
dreamt that he was suddenly sound of foot and out at the
Cape in a regiment of Yeomanry; the pictures he had looked
at in the illustrated papers gave materials for his fancy; and
he saw himself on the Veldt, in khaki, sitting with other
men round a fire at night. When he awoke he found that it
was still quite light, and presently he heard Big Ben strike
seven. He had twelve hours to get through with nothing to
do. He dreaded the interminable night. The sky was over-
cast and he feared it would rain; he would have to go to a
lodging-house where he could get a bed; he had seen them
advertised on lamps outside houses in Lambeth: Good Beds
sixpence; he had never been inside one, and dreaded the
foul smell and the vermin. He made up his mind to stay in
the open air if he possibly could. He remained in the park
till it was closed and then began to walk about. He was very
tired. The thought came to him that an accident would be a
piece of luck, so that he could be taken to a hospital and lie
there, in a clean bed, for weeks. At midnight he was so hun-
gry that he could not go without food any more, so he went
to a coffee stall at Hyde Park Corner and ate a couple of po-
tatoes and had a cup of coffee. Then he walked again. He felt
too restless to sleep, and he had a horrible dread of being
moved on by the police. He noted that he was beginning to
look upon the constable from quite a new angle. This was
the third night he had spent out. Now and then he sat on
the benches in Piccadilly and towards morning he strolled
down to The Embankment. He listened to the striking of

1 Of Human Bondage