And then he thought of Ruth and the cool sweetness that must reside in her lips as it resided in all about her.

Her kiss would be like her hand-shake or the way she looked at one, firm and frank.

In imagination he dared to think of her lips on his, and so vividly did he imagine that he went dizzy at the thought and seemed to rift through clouds of rose-petals, filling his brain with their perfume.
In the kitchen he found Jim, the other boarder, eating mush very languidly, with a sick, far-away look in his eyes.

Jim was a plumber's apprentice whose weak chin and hedonistic temperament, coupled with a certain nervous stupidity, promised to take him nowhere in the race for bread and butter.
"Why don't you eat ?" he demanded, as Martin dipped dolefully into the cold, half-cooked oatmeal mush.

"Was you drunk again last night ?" Martin shook his head.