"How much do I owe you?" asked Haldane, in a tone that was harsh from its suppressed emotion.
"I don't want any of your money—I don't want anything to do with people who are lodged at the expense of the State. If you took money last night, there is no telling what you will take to-night."
Haldane snatched his hat and rushed from the house, overwhelmed with a deeper and more terrible sense of shame and degradation than he had ever imagined possible. He had become a pariah, and in bitterness of heart was realizing the truth.
CHAPTER XVIII
THE WORLD'S VERDICT—OUR KNIGHT A CRIMINAL
A few moments before his interview with the thrifty and respectable Mrs. Gruppins, Haldane had supposed himself too weary to drag one foot after the other in search of another resting-place; and therefore his eager hope that that obdurate female might not be gifted with the same quality of "in'ards" which Pat M'Cabe ascribed to Mr. Arnot. He had, indeed, nearly reached the limit of endurance, for had he been in his best and most vigorous condition, a day which taxed so terribly both body and mind would have drained his vitality to the point of exhaustion. As it was, the previous night's debauch told against him like a term of illness. He had since taken food insufficiently and irregularly, and was, therefore, in no condition to meet the extraordinary demands of the ordeal through which he was passing. Mental distress, moreover, is far more wearing than physical effort, and his anguish of mind had risen several times during the day almost to frenzy.
In spite of all this, the sharp and pitiless tongue of Mrs. Gruppins goaded him again to the verge of desperation, and he strode rapidly and aimlessly away, through the night and storm, with a wilder tempest raging in his breast. But the gust of feeling died away as suddenly as it had arisen, and left him ill and faint. A telegraph pole was near, and he leaned against it for support.
"Move on," growled a passing policeman.
"Will you do me a kindness?" asked Haldane; "I am poor and sick—a stranger. Tell me where I can hire a bed for a small sum."
The policeman directed him down a side street, saying, "You can get a bed at No. 13, and no questions asked."