"He
wants a holiday more than I do."
"Allchin want a 'oliday, sir!" exclaimed the woman. "Why he never
knows what to do with himself when he's away from business. He
enjoys business, does Allchin. Don't you think of him, sir. I never
knew a man so altered since he's been kept to regular work all the
year round. I used to dread the Sundays, and still more the Bank
holidays when we were here first; you never knew who he'd get
quarrelling with as soon as he'd nothing to do But now, sir, why I
don't believe you'll find a less quarrelsome man anywhere, and he
was saying for a joke only yesterday, that he didn't think he could
knock down even a coster, he's so lost the habit."
Will yielded and stole away into the mellowing sunshine. He walked
westward, till he found himself on the Embankment by Albert Bridge;
here, after hesitating awhile, he took the turn into Oakley Street.
He had no thought of calling to see Miss Elvan; upon that he could
not venture; but he thought it barely possible that he might meet
with her in this neighbourhood, and such a meeting would have been
pleasant. Disappointed, he crossed the river, lingered a little in
Battersea Park, came back again over the bridge,--and, with a
sudden leap of the heart, which all but made his whole body spring
forward, saw a slim figure in grey moving by the parapet in front of
Cheyne Walk.
They shook hands without speaking, very much as though they had met
by appointment.
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