ot that he was my servant, and I caught his hand
and pressed it.

"You have saved my life at the risk of your own," I said; "I shall not
forget it."

But Banks had been too well trained to lose sight of his position. He
merely tipped his hat again and said imperturbably:

"Best get out of here, your honour. They'll be coming again directly."

"Where are we?" I asked.

"Drury Lane, sir," he replied, giving me just the corner of a glance;
"shall I fetch a coach, sir?" No, I preferred to walk. Before we had
turned into Long Acre I had seen all of this Sodom of London that it
should be given a man to see, if indeed we must behold some of the
bestiality of this world. Here alone, in the great city, high and low
were met equal. Sin levels rank. The devil makes no choice between my
lord and his kitchen wench who has gone astray. Here, in Sodom, painted
vice had lain for an hundred years and bred half the crime of a century.
How many souls had gone hence in that time to meet their Maker! Some
of these brazen creatures who leered at me had known how long ago!--a
peaceful home and a mother's love; had been lured in their innocence
to this place of horrors, never to leave it until death mercifully
overtakes them. Others, having fallen, had been driven hither by a cruel
world that shelters all save the helpless, that forgives all save the
truly penitent. I shuddered as I thought of Mr. Hogarth's prints, which,
in the library in Marlboro' Street at home, had had so little meaning
for me. Verily he had painted no worse than the reality. As I strode
homeward, my own sorrow subdued by the greater sorrow I had looked upon,
the craving I had had to be alone was gone, and I would have locked
arms with a turnspit. I called to Banks, who was behind at a respectful
distance, and bade him come talk to me. His presence of mind in calling
on the watch had made even a greater impression upon me than his
bravery. I told him that he should have ten pounds, and an increase of
wages. And I asked him where I had gone after leaving Dover Street, and
why he had followed me. He answered this latter question first. He had
seen gentlemen in the same state, or something like it, before: his
Lordship, his late master, after he had fought with Mr. Onslow, of the
Guards, and Sir Edward Minturn, when he had lost an inheritance and a
reversion at Brooks's, and was forced to give over his engagement to
marry the Honourable Miss Swift. "Lord, sir," he said,