and under a dark arch of it he had seen the swing-door of a low and exceedingly ill-favoured public-house.
Once within the refuge, he sat down gasping. An elderly woman crowned with false hair was watching him severely from behind the bar as he sank, with head thrown back, and leaning upon the wooden partition attempting to recover himself. Outside he heard to his immense relief the thundering feet go past. They had missed his doubling!
Mind speaks to mind in moments of strong emotion without the medium of words. Professor Higginson recognised that unless he drank something he would be thrown to the wolves. He had never been in a public-house in his life. He had no conception of its habits. But the woman's eye was strong upon him, and he had to give an order. He gave it in this form—
"I think I should like—no, I think on the whole I should prefer a glass of, let us say, ale."
"Four Ale?" said the woman severely.
"No, one," said Professor Higginson, whereat she fired suddenly and said—
"None of your lip, young man!" (Professor Higginson was in his fifty-seventh year,
