he forgot to go in for in the manner prescribed by the authorities after putting his horse at through the storm as if it were a leap he waited up all night from time to time ringing his bell with the greatest fury charging the porter who kept watch with in letters or messages that could not il to have been to him and demanding on the spot the dawn coming the morning coming and the day coming and neither message nor letter coming with either he went down to the there hie report was mr away and mrs in town left for town suddenly last evening not even known to be gone until receipt of message that her return was not to be for present in these circumstances he had nothing for it but to follow her to town he went to the house in town mrs not there he looked in at the bank mr away and mrs away mrs away who could have been reduced to sudden for the company of well i don t know said tom who had his own reasons for being uneasy about it she was off somewhere at daybreak this morning she s always full of mystery i hate her so i do that white chap he s always got his eyes upon a fellow hard where were you last night tom where was i last night said tom come i like that i was waiting for you mr till it came down as i never saw it come down before where was i too where were you you mean i was prevented from coming � detained detained murmured tom two of us were detained i was detained looking for you till i lost every train but the mail it would have been a pleasant job to go down by that on such a night and have to walk home through a pond i was obliged to sleep in town after all where where why in my own bed at s did you see your sister how the deuce returned tom staring could i see my sister when she was fifteen miles off cursing these quick of the young gentleman to whom he was so true a friend mr himself of that interview with the smallest conceivable amount of ceremony and for the time what all this could mean he made only one thing clear it was that whether she was in town or out of town whether he had been premature with her who was so hard to comprehend or she had lost courage or they were discovered or some or mistake at present incomprehensible had occurred he must remain to his fortune whatever it was the hotel where he was known to live when condemned to that region of blackness was the stake to which he was tied as to all the rest � what wiu be wiu be so whether i am waiting for a hostile message or an or a penitent remonstrance or an with my friend in the manner � which would seem as likely as anything else in the present state of affairs � i ll dine said mr james has the advantage in point of weight and if an of a british nature is to come off between us it may be as well to be in training therefore he rang the bell and tossing himself on a sofa ordered some dinner at six � with a in it and got through the intervening time as well as he could that was not particularly well for he remained in the greatest perplexity and as the hours went on and no kind of hard times explanation offered itself perplexity at compound interest however lie took affairs as coolly as it was in human nature to do and entertained with the idea of the training more than once it wouldn t be bad he yawned at one time to give the waiter five shillings and throw him at another time it occurred to him or a of about thirteen or fourteen stone might be hired by the hour but these did not teu materially on the afternoon or his suspense and to say they both it was impossible even before dinner to avoid often walking about in the pattern of the carpet looking out of the window listening at the door for footsteps and occasionally becoming rather hot when any steps approached that room but after dinner when the day turned to twilight and the twilight turned to night and still no communication was made to him it began to be as he expressed it like the holy and slow torture however still true to his conviction that indifference was the genuine high breeding the only conviction he had he seized this crisis as the opportunity for ordering candles and a newspaper he had been trying in vain for half an hour to read this newspaper when the waiter appeared and said at once mysteriously and beg your pardon sir you re wanted sir if you please a general recollection that this was the kind of thing the police said to the swell mob caused mr to ask the waiter in return with indignation what the devil he meant by wanted beg your pardon sir young lady outside sir wishes to see you outside where outside this door sir giving the waiter to the personage before mentioned as a duly qualified for that mr hurried into the gallery a young woman whom he had never seen stood there plainly dressed very quiet very pretty as he conducted her into the room and placed a chair for her he observed by the light of the candles that she was even prettier than he had at first believed her face was innocent and youthful and its expression remarkably pleasant she was not afraid of him or in any way disconcerted she seemed to have her mind entirely pre occupied 