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.
XXI
AND ASCENDS TO PARADISE
Now when Mr. Lavender once slept over an idea it became so strong that
no power on earth could prevent his putting it into execution, and all
night long he kept Blink awake by tramping up and down his bedroom and
planning the details of such a retirement as would meet his unfortunate
case.
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