to press for the uttermost farthing; and well
they know that this first call of 500 pounds on every 100 pounds of
stock will ruin many and many a poor creature, and turn him or her out
into the world. There is even a talk of a Relief Fund; I believe the
Lord Provost of Glasgow and other gentlemen----'

John Douglas's face flushed quickly.

'I wish not to hear of such things,' he said, with a touch of
resentment. Then he added more slowly, 'I will take money from no man.
I will earn my own living; if I cannot do that, what title have I to
live at all? But I will take this obligation from you yourself, Mr.
Campbell; if you will lend me five pounds, which I will repay to you.
And I would like to take with me a few portraits, of my family and
forbears, that can be of no use to any one; and one or two books
likewise; then the rest can go to the liquidators, to roup or scatter
to the winds as they see fit. I am a man of few words; I will repay
you the money, if my health remains to me; and it will be enough to
carry me to London and start me there.'

'To London!' said the tall fair man in spectacles.

'It is the great labour market of the world; it is natural I should go
there. Besides, there is another thing,' he added, with a trifle of
embarrassment. 'Our family were well known in these parts in former
years, and respected. I know not what I may have to turn my hand to.
I will begin where I can be alone.'

He was a wilful man, and he had his way. He got the five pounds and
the few pictures, and the three books named above; and when he entered
the third-class carriage that was to bear him through the night to
London, it was without fear. He had ten fingers, and he could live on
a crust of bread and a drink of clear water. What was the hardship?
Had not the great Emperor himself counted it among the blessings of his
life--one of the things for which he was ever to be grateful--that he
had been taught to work with his own hands?

CHAPTER II.

ALONE IN LONDON.

This, then, was the man who now found himself in the sickly daylight of
the great city, walking along the wide thoroughfare on this Sunday
morning. The grim and grizzled face was somewhat tired looking after
the long and wakeful journey, and the dark eyes were fatigued and
melancholy; but his step was light and firm. And it was well that it
was so. He had been in other large towns before, but not in this one;
and as he had determined to make