But it is impossible to abuse the Barley type of man. Barley's enjoyment
of the whole thing was so honest and childlike. Probably it had given
him the happiest quarter of an hour he had known for years, since, in
fact, the affair of old Tom Raxley. It would have been cruel to damp
the man.
So Mike laughed perfunctorily, took back the envelope with the five
pounds, accepted a ginger beer and a plateful of biscuits, and rode off
on his return journey.
* * * * *
Mention has been made above of the difference which exists between
getting into an inn after lockup and into a private house. Mike was to
find this out for himself.
His first act on arriving at Sedleigh was to replace his bicycle in the
shed. This he accomplished with success. It was pitch-dark in the shed,
and as he wheeled his machine in, his foot touched something on the
floor. Without waiting to discover what this might be, he leaned his
bicycle against the wall, went out, and locked the door, after which he
ran across to Outwood's.
Fortune had favored his undertaking by decreeing that a stout drainpipe
should pass up the wall within a few inches of his and Psmith's study.
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