They Told Me, However, That Without
Doubt I Should Find Something Open In The Centre Of The Workmen's
Quarter, Where The Great Electric Lamps Now Made A Glare Over The
Factory.
I trudged on unwillingly, and at the very last house of this
detestable industrial slavery, a high house with a gable, I saw a
window wide open, and a blonde man smoking a cigarette at a balcony.
I
called to him at once, and asked him to let me a bed. He put to me all
the questions he could think of. Why was I there? Where had I come
from? Where (if I was honest) had I intended to sleep? How came I at
such an hour on foot? and other examinations. I thought a little what
excuse to give him, and then, determining that I was too tired to make
up anything plausible, I told him the full truth; that I had meant to
sleep rough, but had been overcome by fatigue, and that I had walked
from Toul, starting at evening. I conjured him by our common Faith to
let me in. He told me that it was impossible, as he had but one room
in which he and his family slept, and assured me he had asked all
these questions out of sympathy and charity alone. Then he wished me
good-night, honestly and kindly, and went in.
By this time I was very much put out, and began to be angry. These
straggling French towns give no opportunity for a shelter.
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