aled somewhere in the recesses of his
vital parts. Fortified by two halves of a mince-tart and several slices
of Sir George's turkey, he filled the washing-book full up before dusk
on Christmas Day; and on Boxing Day, despite the faint admiring protests
of his nurses, he made a considerable hole in a quire of the best ruled
essay-paper. Instead of showing signs of fatigue, Henry appeared to grow
stronger every hour, and to revel more and more in the sweet labour of
composition; while the curiosity of the nurses about the exact nature of
what Henry termed the denouement increased steadily and constantly. The
desires of those friends who had wished a Happy Christmas to the
household were generously gratified.

It was a love tale, of course. And it began thus, the first line
consisting of a single word, and the second of three words:

'_Babylon!_

'_And in winter!_

'_The ladies' waiting-room on the arrival platform of one of our vast
termini was unoccupied save for the solitary figure of a young and
beautiful girl, who, clad in a thin but still graceful costume, crouched
shivering over the morsel of fire which the greed of a great company
alone permitted to its passengers. Outside resounded the roar and shriek
of trains, the ceaseless ebb and flow of the human tide which beats for
ever on the shores of modern Babylon. Enid Anstruther gazed sadly into
the embers. She had come to the end of her resources. Suddenly the door
opened, and Enid looked up, naturally expecting to see one of her own
sex. But it was a man's voice, fresh and strong, which exclaimed: "Oh, I
beg pardon!" The two glanced at each other, and then Enid sank
backwards._'

Such were the opening sentences of _Love in Babylon_.

Enid was an orphan, and had come to London in order to obtain a
situation in a draper's shop. Unfortunately, she had lost her purse on
the way. Her reason for sinking back in the waiting-room was that she
had fainted from cold, hunger, and fatigue. Thus she and the man, Adrian
Tempest, became acquainted, and Adrian's first gift to her was seven
drops of brandy, which he forced between her teeth. His second was his
heart. Enid obtained a situation, and Adrian took her to the Crystal
Palace one Saturday afternoon. It was a pity that he had not already
proposed to her, for they got separated in the tremendous Babylonian
crowd, and Enid, unused to the intricacies of locomotion in Babylon,
arrived home at the emporium at an ungodly h