It was one of the disabilities of advanced old age.

Alas! what can bridge the gulf between fourteen and fifty?
"Anyhow, you've got a friend at the back of yer, sonny, and don't make no mistake about it.

If you're in trouble let me know.

I can't say fairer than that, can I ?" That, for a season, was the end of Barney Bill, and Paul found himself thrillingly alone in London.

At first its labyrinthine vastness overwhelmed him, causing him to feel an unimportant atom, which may have been good for his soul, but was not agreeable to his vanity.