are his pity,
to reserve his forbearance for another occasion; that if he
would wait five minutes I would satisfy him that his _friends_
had been over-hasty in their conclusions; and that, having so
satisfied him, I hoped he would take the opportunity of
stating to them that very evening, that, as far as his case
was concerned, there was nothing to complain of in my conduct
as a _man of honour_. I said all this in a calmer tone than I
now repeat it to you, and I walked out of the room with a
steady step. Do you guess where I went? I went to the drawer
in the office, unlocked it, counted out the money that I
wanted, L3,500, and said to myself while I did it, 'At twelve
o'clock to-night I shall shoot myself.' I locked the drawer
again, put the key in my pocket, went back to Escourt, and
handed to him the bank-notes. He bowed, offered to shake hands
with me, hoped I did full justice to his good intentions,
would make a point of stating at --'s that very evening what
had passed between us, and walked away. I walked away too;
but, as I was opening the door of the office to take away my
hat and stick, I met Harding, who I must tell you (if you do
not know it already) is a half-brother of Mrs. Tracy, and
consequently _her_ uncle," he said, pointing to the next room.
"He bowed, and told me that, having met my father in
Piccadilly, who had stopped in his gig to inform him I was
waiting at the office for him, he had come on as fast as he
could in case I was in a hurry. I looked at him in a strange
manner I suppose, for he seemed puzzled and said, 'I'm afraid
you are not well, Sir.'

"'Not very well,' I stammered out, and walked towards the
door.

"He followed me and said, 'I had understood Mr. Lovell to say,
Sir, that he had left with you the key of------'

"'Oh, the key,--yes, I have the key at my lodgings; my father
called on me, and left it there. Can you come and fetch it
to-morrow morning?'

"'Why, Sir, if it suited you as well,' he began.

"'I am not going home at present, and as it comes to the
same--' I rejoined.

"'I must come early then, Sir?'

"'As early as you please,' I said, and walked into the street,
where the air appeared to me to have grown ten times more
sultry than it was an hour before. The pavement seemed
literally to burn under my feet: and the sky had that heavy
leaden look, 'dark as if the day of doom hung o'er Nature's
shrinking head;' which produces a feeling of intolerable
oppression. Wh