The People of the Abyss | Page 6

police.
But I disputed with him over the outrageous difference between prices
and values, till I quite disabused him of the notion, and he settled down
to drive a hard bargain with a hard customer. In the end I selected a pair
of stout though well-worn trousers, a frayed jacket with one remaining
button, a pair of brogans which had plainly seen service where coal was
shovelled, a thin leather belt, and a very dirty cloth cap. My
underclothing and socks, however, were new and warm, but of the sort
that any American waif, down in his luck, could acquire in the ordinary
course of events.
"I must sy yer a sharp 'un," he said, with counterfeit admiration, as I
handed over the ten shillings finally agreed upon for the outfit. "Blimey,
if you ain't ben up an' down Petticut Lane afore now. Yer trouseys is
wuth five bob to hany man, an' a docker 'ud give two an' six for the
shoes, to sy nothin' of the coat an' cap an' new stoker's singlet an' hother
things."
"How much will you give me for them?" I demanded suddenly. "I paid
you ten bob for the lot, and I'll sell them back to you, right now, for
eight! Come, it's a go!"
But he grinned and shook his head, and though I had made a good
bargain, I was unpleasantly aware that he had made a better one.
I found the cabby and a policeman with their heads together, but the
latter, after looking me over sharply, and particularly scrutinizing the
bundle under my arm, turned away and left the cabby to wax mutinous
by himself. And not a step would he budge till I paid him the seven
shillings and sixpence owing him. Whereupon he was willing to drive
me to the ends of the earth, apologising profusely for his insistence, and
explaining that one ran across queer customers in London Town.
But he drove me only to Highbury Vale, in North London, where my
luggage was waiting for me. Here, next day, I took off my shoes (not
without regret for their lightness and comfort), and my soft, grey
travelling suit, and, in fact, all my clothing; and proceeded to array

myself in the clothes of the other and unimaginable men, who must
have been indeed unfortunate to have had to part with such rags for the
pitiable sums obtainable from a dealer.
Inside my stoker's singlet, in the armpit, I sewed a gold sovereign (an
emergency sum certainly of modest proportions); and inside my
stoker's singlet I put myself. And then I sat down and moralised upon
the fair years and fat, which had made my skin soft and brought the
nerves close to the surface; for the singlet was rough and raspy as a hair
shirt, and I am confident that the most rigorous of ascetics suffer no
more than I did in the ensuing twenty-four hours.
The remainder of my costume was fairly easy to put on, though the
brogans, or brogues, were quite a problem. As stiff and hard as if made
of wood, it was only after a prolonged pounding of the uppers with my
fists that I was able to get my feet into them at all. Then, with a few
shillings, a knife, a handkerchief, and some brown papers and flake
tobacco stowed away in my pockets, I thumped down the stairs and
said good-bye to my foreboding friends. As I paused out of the door,
the "help," a comely middle-aged woman, could not conquer a grin that
twisted her lips and separated them till the throat, out of involuntary
sympathy, made the uncouth animal noises we are wont to designate as
"laughter."
No sooner was I out on the streets than I was impressed by the
difference in status effected by my clothes. All servility vanished from
the demeanour of the common people with whom I came in contact.
Presto! in the twinkling of an eye, so to say, I had become one of them.
My frayed and out-at-elbows jacket was the badge and advertisement
of my class, which was their class. It made me of like kind, and in place
of the fawning and too respectful attention I had hitherto received, I
now shared with them a comradeship. The man in corduroy and dirty
neckerchief no longer addressed me as "sir" or "governor." It was
"mate" now--and a fine and hearty word, with a tingle to it, and a
warmth and gladness, which the other term does not possess. Governor!
It smacks of mastery, and power, and high authority--the tribute of the
man who is under to the man on top, delivered in the hope that he will

let up a bit and ease his weight, which is another way of