Beta Book

I sye, old top, I'm peeved; yessir. We'll go Dutch
to a lodging-house, or even walk the streets."
"All right, sir; all right. I'll take you up on that. We'll
sleep in an areaway some place."
They walked to the outskirts of Liverpool, questing the desirable
dark alley. Awed by the solid quietude and semigrandeur of the
large private estates, through narrow streets where dim trees
leaned over high walls whose long silent stretches were broken
only by mysterious little doors, they tramped bashfully,
inspecting, but always rejecting, nooks by lodge gates.
They came to a stone church with a porch easily reached from the
street, a large and airy stone porch, just suited, Morton
declared, "to a couple of hoboes like us. If a bobby butts in,
why, we'll just slide under them seats. Then the bobby can go
soak his head."
Mr. Wrenn had never so far defied society as to steal a place
for sleeping. He felt very uneasy, like a man left naked on the
street by robbers, as he rolled up his coat for a pillow and
removed his shoes in a place that was perfectly open to the
street.


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