Synopsis

Edward Cosgrove is a polite and civilised young man but his stay with the august firm of Frampton and Pritchard is as brief as all his other employments have been. "How distressing to lose one's job," as his sympathetic neighbour, Miss Bryant, remarks, but Cosgrove always has the same trouble with his work: "I may be rounding the corner a few streets away and I may see the building in the distance and cast my mind forward, ahead of me into the office and think, `Ah, it's now bright and early there'. But by the time I finally arrive, it's tarnished and late". Meanwhile, before he resumes yet again the wearying search for work, there are unexpected consolations for Cosgrove. He has just found a new flat, and on the evening after the dismissal meets his fellow tenants in the house, a sociable bunch. Miss Bryant gives him food, Mr Gibbs throws a party, Mr Vernon takes care of the drinks, and Mrs Gibbs is very attentive to the new man's desires. Only young Miss Hale stays archly rather apart from the jollity. She flees to shocked safety when the others become determined to hustle the not unwilling Cosgrove and Miss Bryant into an immediate holiday together in a mountain hotel…