‘I’m going anyway,’ he said dully. ‘This’ll be my last night on duty.’

‘Well, go on, get out,’ she said, impatient for him to leave her alone with Rosa. ‘Get out and do some work, even if it is your last night. And next time you meet a decent girl, leave her alone, will you?’

‘Yes,’ he said obediently, as if she had given him some order relating to his duties as an orderly. ‘I’ll do that.’

IX

IX

It was characteristic of Mr. Braceweight not to have a Rolls-Royce. He was rich, but he had refrained from going the whole hog and becoming a millionaire, and he showed the same spirit of restraint in his style of living. Another two thousand a year and Charles might have been dressed in an elaborate uniform, with leather gaiters and buttons to polish, driving a Rolls and sleeping among the cockroaches. As it was, he had only a simple uniform, a brown suit with a peaked cap, found his tiny bed-sitting room perfectly comfortable, and cruised round the country lanes in a Daimler; fluid flywheel, three and a half tons, making him feel like a bus driver, except that he did not have to stop to let people get on.