When he awoke next morning, the weather was so gloomy that he seriously resumed his thought of getting away from London.

Why, indeed, did he make London his home, when it would be easy to live in places vastly more interesting, and under a pure sky?
He was a citizen of no city at all, and had less desire than ever to bind himself to a permanent habitation.

All very well so long as he kept among his male friends, at the club and elsewhere; but this 'society' played the deuce with him, and he had not the common-sense, the force of resolve, to keep out of it altogether.
Well, he must go to his bank this morning, to draw cash.
It was about twelve o'clock when he stood at the counter, waiting with his cheque.

The man before him talked with the teller.
'Do you know that the "Britannia" has shut up ?' 'The bank?
No!' 'But it has.

I passed just now, and there were a lot of people standing about.