he bolts, Hal had presented him with a
word picture of himself, as seen by others, that must have lessened his
self-esteem.

"I didn't know as it was you, Doctor," explained the man.

"No, you thought you had only to deal with some helpless creature you
could bully. Stir your fat carcass, you ugly cur! I'm in a hurry."

The House Surgeon was away, but an attendant or two were lounging about,
unfortunately for themselves, for Hal, being there, took it upon himself
to go round the ward setting crooked things straight; and a busy and
alarming time they had of it. Not till a couple of hours later did he
fling himself forth again, having enjoyed himself greatly.

A gentleman came to reside in the district, a firm believer in the
wisdom of the couplet: "A woman, a spaniel and a walnut tree, The more
you beat them the better they be." The spaniel and the walnut tree he
did not possess, so his wife had the benefit of his undivided energies.
Whether his treatment had improved her morally, one cannot say; her
evident desire to do her best may have been natural or may have been
assisted; but physically it was injuring her. He used to beat her about
the head with his strap, his argument being that she always seemed half
asleep, and that this, for the time being, woke her up. Sympathisers
brought complaint to Hal, for the police in that neighbourhood are to
keep the streets respectable. With the life in the little cells that
line them they are no more concerned than are the scavengers of the
sewers with the domestic arrangements of the rats.

"What's he like?" asked Hal.

"He's a big 'un," answered the woman who had come with the tale, "and
he's good with his fists--I've seen him. But there's no getting at him.
He's the sort to have the law on you if you interfere with him, and
she's the sort to help him."

"Any likely time to catch him at it?" asked Hal.

"Saturdays it's as regular as early closing," answered the woman, "but
you might have to wait a bit."

"I'll wait in your room, granny, next Saturday," suggested Hal.

"All right," agreed the woman, "I'll risk it, even if I do get a bloody
head for it."

So that week end we sat very still on two rickety chairs listening to a
long succession of sharp, cracking sounds that, had one not known,
one might have imagined produced by some child monotonously exploding
percussion caps, each one followed by an answering groan. Hal never
moved, but sat smoking his pipe, an ugly s