"You seem wonderfully clever at shorthand. I am surprised that you haven't permanent work."
"It would do me little good. I can go on for a long time, but when my fit comes on me I am not long in losing any job. They won't have me, friend—they won't have me."
"You've been well employed, then, in your time?"
"No one better. If I had command of myself, I might have done as well in my way as my brother has in his. I could beat him once, and I was quite as industrious as he was; but, when I came to the crossroads, I took the wrong turning, and here I am."
"May I ask how your brother succeeded? I mean—what is he?"
"He is Chief Justice ——."
I found that this was quite true; indeed, the Gentleman was one of the most veracious men I have known.
"Does your brother know how you are faring?"
"He did know, but I never trouble him. He was a good fellow to me, and I have never worried him for years. I prefer to be dead to the world. I have haunted this place, as you know, for six months; to-morrow I may make a change, and live in another sty."
"But surely you could get chance work that would keep you in decent clothes and food."