But Mr Crosbie had as yet knocked himself down to none of these biddings, having before him when he left London no other fixed engagement than that which took him to Allington.

On the first of October we shall also find ourselves at Allington in company with Johnny Eames; and Apollo Crosbie will still be there,--by no means to the comfort of our friend from the Income-tax Office.
Johnny Eames cannot be called unlucky in that matter of his annual holiday, seeing that he was allowed to leave London in October, a month during which few chose to own that they remain in town.

For myself, I always regard May as the best month for holiday-making; but then no Londoner cares to be absent in May.

Young Eames, though he lived in Burton Crescent and had as yet no connection with the West End, had already learned his lesson in this respect.

"Those fellows in the big room want me to take May," he had said to his friend Cradell.