f you
don't like it you can do the other thing.'

Ruth staggered and nearly fell from the force of the push he gave her,
and the man turned again to the table to watch the Semi-drunk, who was
arranging six matches so as to form the numeral XII, and who said he
could prove that this was equal to a thousand.

Ruth waited a few minutes longer, and then as Easton took no further
notice of her, she took up the string-bag and the other parcels, and
without staying to say good night to Mrs Crass--who was earnestly
conversing with the interesting Partaker--she with some difficulty
opened the door and went out into the street. The cold night air felt
refreshing and sweet after the foul atmosphere of the public house, but
after a little while she began to feel faint and dizzy, and was
conscious also that she was walking unsteadily, and she fancied that
people stared at her strangely as they passed. The parcels felt very
heavy and awkward to carry, and the string-bag seemed as if it were
filled with lead.

Although under ordinary circumstances it was only about ten minutes'
walk home from here, she resolved to go by one of the trams which
passed by the end of North Street. With this intention, she put down
her bag on the pavement at the stopping-place, and waited, resting her
hand on the iron pillar at the corner of the street, where a little
crowd of people were standing evidently with the same object as
herself. Two trains passed without stopping, for they were already
full of passengers, a common circumstance on Saturday nights. The next
one stopped, and several persons alighted, and then ensued a fierce
struggle amongst the waiting crowd for the vacant seats. Men and women
pushed, pulled and almost fought, shoving their fists and elbows into
each other's sides and breasts and faces. Ruth was quickly thrust
aside and nearly knocked down, and the tram, having taken aboard as
many passengers as it had accommodation for, passed on. She waited for
the next one, and the same scene was enacted with the same result for
her, and then, reflecting that if she had not stayed for these trains
she might have been home by now, she determined to resume her walk.
The parcels felt heavier than ever, and she had not proceeded very far
before she was compelled to put the bag down again upon the pavement,
outside an empty house.

Leaning against the railings, she felt very tired and ill. Everything
around her--the street, the houses,