At last he saw several better-class artisans go into an eating-house in Oxford Street, and following them he did very well. The table-cloth was stained with brown circles from the porter pots, and was otherwise dirty; the forks were pewter, and there were no napkins; but the meat was as good as you would get anywhere, so were the vegetables, the beer also; and the cost was about half that of the most homely chop-houses he had hitherto patronised.
His dinner done, it was about the time when the theatres were opening, so he went to the gallery door of one of the principal of them, and after waiting a little while, amongst the good-humoured crowd, he surged upstairs with them—many stairs they were, and steep—and got a good place close to the chandelier. The warmth and light from it were rather too obtrusive, but did not prevent his taking an interest in the performance, which was shared by his neighbours in the most intense and hearty fashion. The women sobbed at the pathetic parts, while the men set their teeth and turned white when the villain temporarily got the best of it, and both sexes roared with delight over the comic scenes. Likewise, all sucked oranges; therefore Kavanagh purchased and sucked an orange, and ingratiated himself with his female neighbours by politely offering them that fruit!
And between the acts, when the young men in the stalls, in their white ties, and white kid gloves, and nicely parted hair, stood up and languidly surveyed the house through their opera-glasses, Kavanagh had a sardonic amusement in the recollection as he thought that a fortnight before he had sat in that fourth stall in the third row, in evening dress, with a gardenia in his button-hole, and had similarly inspected the inferior beings around him. Froggy Barton occupied that seat to-night. Kavanagh took a squeeze at his orange, and thought he could hit Froggy with the skin. But of course he refrained from trying. Only he did look so sleek! “What much wiser people we are than the swells!” Kavanagh thought. “We enjoy ourselves without being ashamed of it, and we endure crowding and semi-suffocation without getting ill-tempered!”
But he soon had enough of it, in spite of his philosophy, and after the second fall of the curtain was glad to get into the fresh air.
When he reached the Temple he found Royce expecting him, and directly he entered he got up and shook him by the hand.
“I did not see the list till six,” he said, “and then I came to chambers in hopes of finding you, and getting you to come out somewhere. You have not been moping, I hope.”
“Moping! Not a bit of it,” replied Kavanagh. “I am not going to cry ‘I take a licking!’ because Fortune has caught me a couple of facers without a return. I have been to the theatre, and enjoyed myself vastly, I assure you.”
“To the theatre! You; in that dress!” exclaimed Royce.
“Oh, I went to the gallery. I have accepted the situation.”
“Come and sit down and light a pipe,” said Royce. “I won’t bore you with unavailing regrets. Tell me what you are going to do, and if I can help you at all.”