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no longer had membership in club or society. The loss of his insurance-money made him for the future regard all such institutions with angry suspicion. “Workin’ men ain’t satisfied with bein’ robbed by the upper classes; they must go and rob one another.” He had said good-bye to Clerkenwell Green; the lounging crowd no longer found amusement in listening to his frenzied voice and in watching the contortions of his rugged features. He discussed the old subjects with Eagles, but the latter’s computative mind was out of sympathy with zeal of the tumid description; though quite capable of working himself into madness on the details of the Budget, John was easily soothed by his friend’s calmer habits of debate. Kirkwood’s influence, moreover, was again exerting itself