Excerpt: ... CHAPTER VIII HAUNTINGS IN THE EAST END Having come to the conclusion that it was quite impossible to earn a living in America, I returned to England as a steerage passenger on the German liner " Elbe." It was the last homeward journey she was destined to go, for she was run into on her next outward voyage by the " Crathie," several hundred miles off the East Coast of England, and sunk with an appalling loss of life. The weather being particularly rough,we were about nine days at sea; and the fact that our quarters were extremely close, consisting of little more than a square foot to each person, coupled with food that I could not eat, made me sincerely thankful when the time came to go ashore. Apart from these details I had nothing to complain of in the way I was treated, for the crew--though barely concealing their hearty contempt for all but the first-class passengers--were to me civil enough. At the same time the experience--an experience I had not bargained for--was one I certainly do not desire to go through again. I shall never forget how glad I was to find myself once more in an English restaurant, sitting down to a good, square English meal. I spent two nights in Southampton, travelling thence to London. On arriving at Waterloo, I found myself almost as embarrassed as I had been in New York, for my knowledge of London was extremely limited. I had only been there--excepting when I was up for my Sandhurst Exam.--for an odd day occasionally, and then I had always stayed at a private hotel in Cambridge Street, Hyde Park. Now, however, my funds being no longer equal to the West End, I was forced to look elsewhere for a lodging. After a wearisome search, I at last found a room in Tennyson Street, S.E. That room will take a lot of...
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