Poor Sims, he was sorry for him, but it might have been worse. /He/
might have been in the cab himself and now be offering explanations of
his own as to a wild desire to kill that knight in armour, and Isobel
as well. Oh! what a fool he had been. What business was it of his if
Isobel chose to give roses to some friend of hers at a dance? She was
not his property, but only a girl with whom he chanced to have been
brought up, and who found him a pleasant companion when there was no
one else at hand.

By nature, as has been recorded, Godfrey was intensely proud, and then
and there he made a resolution that he would have nothing more to do
with Isobel. Never again would he hang about the skirts of that fine
and rich young lady, who on the night that he was going away could
give roses to another man, just because he was a lord and good-looking
--yes, and kiss them too. His father was quite right about women, and
he would take his advice to the letter, and begin to study Proverbs
forthwith, especially the marked passages.

Having come to this conclusion, and thus eased his troubled mind, he
went to sleep in good earnest, for he was very tired. The next thing
of which he became aware was that someone was hammering at the door,
and calling out that a lady downstairs said he must get up at once if
he meant to be in time. He looked at his watch, a seven-and-sixpenny
article that he had been given off a Christmas tree at Hawk's Hall,
and observed, with horror, that he had just ten minutes in which to
dress, pack, and catch the train. Somehow he did it, for fortunately
his bill had been paid. Always in after days a tumultuous vision
remained in his mind of himself, a long, lank youth with unbrushed
hair and unbuttoned waistcoat, carrying a bag and a coat, followed by
an hotel porter with his luggage, rushing wildly down an interminable