288 GARRYOWEN 



doesn't smoke or drink ; and I had to go through 

 it all without complaining, and that was the worst 

 of it—" 



" I think it was splendid of you! " said the girl. 

 " Go on." 



" Faith, and splendid is no word," said French. 

 " You're a friend in a million. Go on." 



Fortified by these praises, the weary one con- 

 tinued his narrative. 



" Well, day after day passed till I began, like 

 those chaps that get shipwrecked, to lose count of 

 time. I heard church bells ringing the day before 

 yesterday, for instance, and then I knew it was 

 Sunday somewhere, for it didn't seem Sunday or 

 any other day in that beastly cottage. Time 

 seemed to have stopped. You see, there were no 

 books there, no newspapers, nothing, and my 

 tobacco had given out ; and against all that misery 

 the tinned meat and biscuits began to stand out 

 in such high reUef that meal-time became a horror. 

 Oh, Lord ! don't let me talk about it ! I want to 

 try and forget it. 



" Well, things went on like that till it came to 

 yesterday, and I said to myself, ' This can't go on 

 any longer, for I'm beginning to hear voices, and 

 the next thing will be I'll see things. Southend 

 is only ten or eleven miles away; it's a flat road 

 and there's the car outside. I'll lock Giveen up 

 in his room, make a dash for Southend in the car, 

 get some tobacco and a bottle of whisky and some 

 books and dart back again. I'll do the whole 



