Going quickly over to the sofa, he laid his hand on the man's shoulder, and spoke in a high ringing voice which he tried to make cheerful.

"It will pass, old fellow," he said, and could have laughed aloud at the insincerity of his tone.

"I know because I've been there." And he added cynically, as a kind of sacrifice on the altar of truth: "Everything will pass if you only wait long enough." The man started and looked up.

With an air of surprise he glanced round the dingy room, at his wife, at the whimpering children, at the dispassionate baby enthroned in his high chair, and at the majestic profile of Darrow.

"It's the rottenness of the whole blooming show," he said doggedly.