I can't go before.

I can't possibly.
It's--it's out of the question." His brain was clear enough on that point.

He had suffered many things from the brutality of Rickman's; but hitherto its dealings had always been plain and above-board.

It had kept him many an evening working overtime, it had even exacted an occasional Saturday afternoon; but it had never before swindled him out of a Bank holiday.

The thing was incredible; it could not be.