No sooner was breakfast over (and it was over almost as quickly as it takes to tell), than the tired heads began to nod and droop, and in five minutes half of us were sound asleep. There were no signs of our being dismissed, while there were unmistakable signs of preparation for a meeting. I looked at a small clock hanging on the wall. It indicated twenty-five minutes to twelve. Heigh-ho, thought I, time is flying, and I have yet to look for work. “I want to go,” I said to a couple of waking men near me. “Got ter sty fer the service,” was the answer. “Do you want to stay?” I asked. They shook their heads. “Then let us go and tell them we want to get out,” I continued. “Come on.” But the poor creatures were aghast. So I left them to their fate, and went up to the nearest Salvation Army man. “I want to go,” I said. “I came here for breakfast in order that I might be in shape to look for work. I didn’t think it would take so long to get breakfast. I think I have a chance for work in Stepney, and the sooner I start, the better chance I’ll have of getting it.” He was really a good fellow, though he was startled by my request. “Wy,” he said, “we’re goin’ to ’old services, and you’d better sty.” “But that will spoil my chances for work,” I urged. “And work is the most important thing for me just now.” As he was only a private, he referred me to the adjutant, and to the adjutant I repeated my reasons for wishing to go, and politely requested that he let me go. “But it cawn’t be done,” he said, waxing virtuously indignant at such ingratitude. “The idea!” he snorted. “The idea!” “Do you mean to say that I can’t get out of here?” I demanded. “That you will keep me here against my will?” “Yes,” he snorted. I do not know what might have happened, for I was waxing indignant myself; but the “congregation” had “piped” the situation, and he drew me over to a corner of the room, and then into another room. Here he again demanded my reasons for wishing to go. “I want to go,” I said, “because I wish to look for work over in Stepney, and every hour lessens my chance of finding work. It is now twenty-five minutes to twelve. I did not think when I came in that it would take so long to get a breakfast.” “You ’ave business, eh?” he sneered. “A man of business you are, eh? Then wot did you come ’ere for?” “I was out all night, and I needed a breakfast in order to strengthen me to find work. That is why I came here.” “A nice thing to do,” he went on in the same sneering manner. “A man with business shouldn’t come ’ere. You’ve tyken some poor man’s breakfast ’ere this morning, that’s wot you’ve done.” Which was a lie, for every mother’s son of us had come in.