It was
headed by an individual who shone out against the drab background like
a good deed in a naughty world. Nature hath framed strange fellows in
her time, and this was one of the strangest that Roland's bulging eyes
had ever rested upon. He was a large, stout man, comfortably clad in a
suit of white linen, relieved by a scarlet 'Squibs' across the bosom.
His top-hat, at least four sizes larger than any top-hat worn out of a
pantomime, flaunted the same word in letters of flame. His umbrella,
which, tho the weather was fine, he carried open above his head, bore
the device "One penny weekly".
The arrest of this person by a vigilant policeman and Roland's dive
into a taxicab occurred simultaneously. Roland was blushing all over.
His head was in a whirl. He took the evening paper handed in through
the window of the cab quite mechanically, and it was only the strong
exhortations of the vendor which eventually induced him to pay for it.
This he did with a sovereign, and the cab drove off.
He was just thinking of going to bed several hours later, when it
occurred to him that he had not read his paper.
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