"
Dick was not grateful to Bessie for her parting gift. He was acutely conscious
of it in the nape of his neck throughout the night, but it seemed, among very
many other things, to enforce the wisdom of getting shaved.
He was shaved accordingly in the morning, and felt the better for it. A fresh
suit of clothes, white linen, and the knowledge that some one in the world said
that she took an interest in his personal appearance made him carry himself
almost upright; for the brain was relieved for a while from thinking of Maisie,
who, under other circumstances, might have given that kiss and a million
others.
"Let us consider," said he, after lunch. "The girl can't care, and it's a toss-
up whether she comes again or not, but if money can buy her to look after me
she shall be bought. Nobody else in the world would take the trouble, and I can
make it worth her while. She's a child of the gutter holding brevet rank as a
barmaid; so she shall have everything she wants if she'll only come and talk
and look after me." He rubbed his newly shorn chin and began to perplex himself
with the thought of her not coming. "I suppose I did look rather a sweep," he
went on. "I had no reason to look otherwise. I knew things dropped on my
clothes, but it didn't matter.
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