h him till Monday, when the neglect could be
surreptitiously repaired; and meanwhile, he was free to pass the
afternoon on the encircling divan of the billiard-room, smoking his
pipe, sipping a pint of ale, and enjoying to the mast-head the modest
pleasures of admiration.

None can admire like a young man. Of all youth's passions and pleasures,
this is the most common and least alloyed; and every flash of Alan's
black eyes; every aspect of his curly head; every graceful reach and
easy, stand-off attitude of waiting; everything about him down even to
his shirt-sleeves and wrist-links, were seen by John through a luxurious
glory. He valued himself by the possession of that royal friend, hugged
himself upon the thought, and swam in warm azure; his own defects, like
vanquished difficulties, becoming things on which to plume himself. Only
when he thought of Miss Mackenzie there fell upon his mind a shadow of
regret; that young lady was worthy of better things than plain John
Nicholson, still known among schoolmates by the derisive name of
"Fatty"; and he felt that if he could chalk a cue, or stand at ease,
with such a careless grace as Alan, he could approach the object of his
sentiments with a less crushing sense of inferiority.

Before they parted, Alan made a proposal that was startling in the
extreme. He would be at Collette's that night about twelve, he said. Why
should not John come there and get the money? To go to Collette's was to
see life indeed; it was wrong; it was against the laws; it partook, in a
very dingy manner, of adventure. Were it known, it was the sort of
exploit that disconsidered a young man for good with the more serious
classes, but gave him a standing with the riotous. And yet Collette's
was not a hell; it could not come, without vaulting hyperbole, under the
description of a gilded saloon; and if it was a sin to go there, the sin
was merely local and municipal. Collette was simply an unlicensed
publican, who gave suppers after eleven at night, the Edinburgh hour of
closing. If you belonged to a club, you could get a much better supper
at the same hour, and lose not a jot in public esteem. But if you lacked
that qualification, and were an-hungered, or inclined towards
conviviality at unlawful hours, Collette's was your only port. You were
very ill supplied. The company was not recruited from the Senate or the
Church, though the Bar was very well represented on the only occasion on
which I flew in