longed to hurry to no by i won t do that he vowed i won t go near her for a week but he was at her flat at four m he who had once controlled or seemed to control his life in a progress but and sane was for that fortnight borne on a current of desire and very bad and all the of new acquaintances those furious new who demand so much more attention than old friends each morning he gloomily recognized his of the evening before with his head throbbing his tongue and lips from he counted the number of drinks he had taken and groaned i got to quit he had ceased saying i will quit for however resolute he might be at dawn he could not for a single evening check his drift he had met s friends he had with the ardent haste of the midnight people who drink and dance and rattle and are ever afraid to be silent been adopted as a member of her group which they called the bunch he first met them after a day when he had worked particularly hard and when he hoped to be quiet with and slowly her admiration from down the hall he could hear shrieks and the grind of a as opened the door he saw fantastic figures dancing in a haze of smoke the tables and chairs were against the wall oh isn t this she at him had the loveliest idea she decided it was time for a party and she the bunch and told em to gather round george this is was in the less desirable aspects of both at once and she was perhaps forty her hair was an ash and if her chest was flat her were ponderous she greeted with a welcome to our little midst says you re a real sport he was apparently expected to dance to be boyish and gay with and he did his best he h about the room into other couples into the into chair legs as he danced he surveyed the rest of the bunch a thin young woman who looked capable conceited and sarcastic another woman whom he could never quite remember three and slightly young men � fountain clerks or at least born for that profession a man of his own age immovable self satisfied of s presence when he had finished his dutiful dance took him aside and begged dear wouldn t you like to do something for me i m all out of and the bunch want to couldn t you just down to s and get some sure he said trying not to sound sullen i ll tell you i ll get to drive down with you was pointing to the thin sarcastic young woman miss greeted him with an how d you do mr tells me you re a very prominent man and i m honored by being allowed to drive with you of course i m rot accustomed to with society people like you so i don t know how to act in such exalted circles thus miss talked all the way down to han bon s to her he wanted to reply oh go to the devil but he never quite himself to that reasonable comment he was the existence of the whole bunch he had heard speak of darling and � she s so clever � you ll her but they had never been real to him he had pictured as living in a rose tinted waiting for him free of all the of a heights when they returned he had to endure the patronage of the young clerks they were as friendly as miss was hostile they called him old and shouted come on now sport shake a leg boys in coats boys as young as ted and as as chorus men but powerful to dance and to mind the and smoke and he tried to be one of them he cried good work but his voice apparently enjoyed the companionship of the dancing she to their bland and casually kissed them at the end of each dance hated her for the moment he saw her as middle aged he studied the wrinkles in the softness of her throat the slack flesh beneath her chin the muscles of her youth were loose and drooping between dances she sat in the largest chair waving her her admirers to come and talk to her she thinks she s a blooming queen growled she to miss isn t my little sweet rats it s a plain old maid and dog flat oh god i wish i was home i wonder if i can t make a now his vision grew however as he applied himself to s raw but vigorous he blended with the bunch he began to rejoice that and the most nearly intelligent of the youths seemed to like him and it was important to win over the surly older man who proved to be a railway clerk named the conversation of the bunch was full of to people whom did not know apparently they thought very comfortably of themselves they were the wise and beautiful and amusing they were and accustomed to all the luxuries of dance halls and and in a cynical superiority to people who were slow or they oh did i tell you what that of a said when i came in late yesterday oh it was per ly oh but wasn t t d say he was simply what did say to him think of the nerve of bob trying to get us to come to his house say the nerve of him can you beat it for nerve some nerve i call it did you notice how was dancing wasn t she the limit was to be heard agreeing with the miss that persons who let a night go by without dancing to music were 