The Kitchen Maid

brought some sense of better things, else forgotten and unattainable, into his mind. Of late, the neglected bed in the Temple Court had known him more scantily than ever; and often when he had thrown himself upon it no longer than a few minutes, he had got up again, and haunted that neighbourhood. ¡¡¡¡On a day in August,

when Mr. Stryver (after notifying to his jackal that "he had thought better of that marrying matter") had carried his delicacy into Devonshire, and when the sight and scent of flowers in the City streets had some waifs of goodness in them for the worst, of health for the sickliest, and of youth for the oldest, Sydney's feet still trod those stones. From being irresolute and purposeless, his feet became animated by an intention, and, in the working out of that intention, they took him to the Doctor's door.

The Kitchen Maid

serious and half humorous, then grinned that over bearing yet ingratiating grin again. "I just came back to say good-bye to all you unfortunate landlocked simpletons."They all laughed, until Luke suddenly remembered what had brought him here in suchhurry. "I almost forgot," he told them, his initial excitement returning, "there's a battlegoing on right here in our system. Come and look." Deak looked disappointed. "Not another one of your epic battles, Luke.Haven't you dreamed up enough of them? Forget it." "Forget it, hell—I'm serious. It's a battle, all right." With words and shoves he managed to cajole the occupants of the station out intothe strong sunlight. Camie in particular looked disgusted. "This had better be worth it, Luke," she warned him, shading her eyes against theglare. Luke already had his macrobinoculars out and was searching the heavens. Ittook only a moment for him to fix on a particular spot. "I told you," he insisted."There they are." Biggs moved alongside him and reached for the binoculars as the other strainedunaided eyes. A slight readjustment provided just enough magnification for Biggs toout two silvery specks against the dark blue. "That's no battle, hotshot," he decided, lowering the binocs and regarding hisfriend gently. "They're just sitting there. Two ships, all right—probably a bargeloading a freighter, since Tatooine hasn't got an orbital station." "There was a lot of firing—earlier," Luke added. His initial enthusiasm wasbeginning to falter under the withering assurance of his older friend.