wine-shop, on the contrary, tripped over one another in
their talk; their hands and shoulders and brows all played a part, as
well as their lips, and their glances were charged with penetrant
meaning.

As I made my way gradually down to Circular Quay and the ferry, some
one stepped out athwart my path from a shadowy doorway, and I had a
vision of straw-coloured hair, pale skin, scarlet lips, a woman's
figure.

'Going home, dear? What about coming with me? Come on, de-ear!'

Somehow I knew all about it. Not from talk, I am sure. Possibly from
reading; possibly by instinct. I felt as though the poor creature had
hit me across the face with a hot iron. I tried to answer her, but
could not. She barred my path, one hand on my arm. It was no use; I
could not get words out. Those waiting seconds were horrible. And then
I turned and fairly ran from her, a rather hoarse laugh pursuing me
among the shadows as I went.

It was horrible, and affected me for hours. But it did not spoil my
outing. No, I think on the whole it added to the general excitation. I
had a sense of having stepped right out into the deep waters of life,
of being in the current. The drama of life was touching me now; its
sombre and tragical side as well as the rest of it.

'This really is life,' I told myself as the ferry bore me among
twinkling lights across the harbour. 'This is the big world, and
Dursley hardly was.'

It stirred me deeply. The harbour itself; the dim, mysterious outlines
of ships, the dancing water, the sense of connection with the world
outside Australia, the very latch-key in my pocket, and the thought
that I would presently be going to bed at my lodgings, in a room
shared by an experienced and rather mysterious man, with a past; all
combined to produce in me a stirring alertness to the adventurous
interest of life.

XIV

One of the odd things about that first evening of mine in Sydney was
that it introduced me to the tobacco habit, one of the few indulgences
which I have never at any time since relinquished. I smoked several
cigarettes that evening, with steadily increasing satisfaction. And,
on the following day, acting on the advice of my room-mate, Mr. Smith,
I bought a shilling briar pipe and a sixpenny plug of black tobacco as
a week's allowance. From that point my current outgoings were
increased by just sixpence per week, no less, and for a considerable
period, no more.

For some days, at least, and it may have bee