She asked him when
he would like to be called, and put the candlestick on the chair. Hubert
looked round the room, and a moment sufficed to complete the survey. It was
about seven feet long. The lower half of the window was curtained by a
piece of muslin hardly bigger than a good-sized pocket-handkerchief; to do
anything in this room except to lie in bed seemed difficult, and Hubert sat
down on the bed and emptied out his pockets. He had just four pounds, and
the calculation how long he could live on such a sum took him some time.
His breakfast, whether he had it at home or in the coffee-house, would cost
him at least fourpence. He thought he would be able to obtain a fairly good
dinner in one of the little Italian restaurants for ninepence. His tea
would cost the same as his breakfast. To these sums he must add twopence
for tobacco and a penny for an evening paper--impossible to do without
tobacco, and he must know what was going on in the world. He could
therefore live for one shilling and eightpence a day--eleven shillings a
week--to which he would have to add six shillings a week for rent,
altogether seventeen shillings a week. He really did not see how he could
do it cheaper. Four times seventeen are sixty-eight; sixty-eight shillings
for a month of life, and he had eighty shillings--twelve shillings for
incidental expenses; and out of that twelve shillings he must buy a shirt,
a sponge, and a tooth brush, and when they were bought there would be very
little left.
Pages:
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35