[London’s Underworld by Thomas Holmes]@TWC D-Link bookLondon’s Underworld CHAPTER VI 6/19
Donning a warm dressing-gown and slippers, I went down to the front door, and very soon the three of us were shivering round the remains of a fire in my dining-room. Very lucidly and modestly Angus repeated the above story, not once did he falter or trip.
He showed me the letter from his uncle, he pointed out the condition of his eyes and the scars on his face; with some demur he accepted my half-crown, saying that he did not ask for anything, and that all he wanted was to get to Bridlington. In my pyjamas and dressing-gown I explored the larder and provided him with food, after which my son escorted him to the last tramcar, saw him safely on his way to the Seamen's Institute with a note to the manager guaranteeing the expense of his bed and board for a few days. Next day my son visited the Seamen's Institute, but alas! Angus was not there, he had not been there.
Nevertheless the manager knew something of him, for three separate gentlemen had sent Angus to the institute.
One had found him in the wilds of Finchley looking for Bridlington! Another had found him pursuing the same quest at Highgate, while still another had come on him, with his dark glasses, bundle and stick, looking for Bridlington on the road to Southgate. I do not know whether the poor fellow ever arrived at Bridlington, but this I do know, that he has found his way northwards, and that he is now groping and inquiring for Dawlish in Devonshire. The Manchester Guardian tells us that one silent evening hour poor Angus was discovered in several different places in the vicinity of Manchester.
The same paper of the next day's date stated that eleven out of the twelve who met poor Angus were so overcome by the poignancy of his narrative and the stupendous character of his task, that they promptly gave him financial assistance.
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