"Really?" murmured Mr.Lavender eagerly "would you?""Why not?" said the -policeman.
So excited was Mr.Lavender by this independent confirmation of his sudden longing that he took out half a crown.
"You will oblige me greatly," he said, by accepting this as a token of my gratitude.""Well, sir, I'll humour you," answered the policeman; "though it was no trouble, I'm sure; you're as light as a feather.Goin' anywhere in particular?" he added.
"Yes," said Mr.Lavender, rather faintly, "the Tube Station.""Come along with me, then."
Mr.Lavender went along, not sorry to have the protection of that stalwart form, for his nerve was shaken, not so much by physical suffering as by the revelation he had received.
"If you'll take my tip, sir," said the policeman, parting from him, "you won't try no private life again; you don't look strong.""Thank you, policeman," said Mr.Lavender musingly; "it is kind of you to take an interest in me.Good-bye!"Safely seated in the Tube for Hampstead he continued the painful struggle of his meditations."If, indeed," he thought, "as a public man I do more harm than good, I am prepared to sacrifice all for my country's sake and retire into private life.But the policeman said that would be dangerous for me.What, then, is left? To live neither a public nor a private life!"This thought, at once painful and heroic, began to take such hold of him that he arrived at his house in a high fever of the brain.