, proceeded out to pass a long day in the
best way he could, somewhere out of sight of the archdeacon.

Bradshaw had told him twenty times that Dr Grantly could not be at
Paddington station till 2 P.M., and our poor friend might therefore
have trusted to the shelter of the hotel for some hours longer with
perfect safety; but he was nervous. There was no knowing what steps
the archdeacon might take for his apprehension: a message by electric
telegraph might desire the landlord of the hotel to set a watch upon
him; some letter might come which he might find himself unable to
disobey; at any rate, he could not feel himself secure in any place
at which the archdeacon could expect to find him; and at 10 A.M. he
started forth to spend twelve hours in London.

Mr Harding had friends in town had he chosen to seek them; but he felt
that he was in no humour for ordinary calls, and he did not now wish
to consult with anyone as to the great step which he had determined
to take. As he had said to his daughter, no one knows where the shoe
pinches but the wearer. There are some points on which no man can be
contented to follow the advice of another,--some subjects on which
a man can consult his own conscience only. Our warden had made up
his mind that it was good for him at any cost to get rid of this
grievance; his daughter was the only person whose concurrence appeared
necessary to him, and she did concur with him most heartily. Under
such circumstances he would not, if he could help it, consult anyone
further, till advice would be useless. Should the archdeacon catch
him, indeed, there would be much advice, and much consultation of a
kind not to be avoided; but he hoped better things; and as he felt
that he could not now converse on indifferent subjects, he resolved
to see no one till after his interview with the attorney-general.

He determined to take sanctuary in Westminster Abbey, so he again went
thither in an omnibus, and finding that the doors were not open for
morning service, he paid his twopence, and went in as a sightseer.
It occurred to him that he had no definite place of rest for the day,
and that he should be absolutely worn out before his interview if he
attempted to walk about from 10 A.M. to 10 P.M., so he sat himself
down on a stone step, and gazed up at the figure of William Pitt, who
looks as though he had just entered the church for the first time in
his life and was anything but pleased at finding him