ll
communicate...." (Somehow the telegraphic form seemed best to suit the
urgency of the situation.) Then very quietly he let himself out of his
house.

He could not help casting an apprehensive glance at the windows of his
quondam friend and prospective murderer. To his horror he observed that
there was a light behind the blind of the Major's bedroom, and pictured
him writing to his seconds--he wondered who the "seconds" were going to
be--or polishing up his pistols. All the rumours and hints of the
Major's duels and affairs of honour, which he had rather scorned before,
not wholly believing them, poured like a red torrent into his mind, and
he found that now he believed them with a passionate sincerity. Why had
he ever attempted (and with such small success) to call this fire-eater
a hippopotamus?

The gale of the night before had abated, and thick chilly rain was
falling from a sullen sky as he tiptoed down the hill. Once round the
corner and out of sight of the duellist's house, he broke into a limping
run, which was accelerated by the sound of an engine-whistle from the
station. It was mental suspense of the most agonizing kind not to know
how long it was after his watch had stopped that he had awoke, and the
sound of that whistle, followed by several short puffs of steam, might
prove to be the six-thirty bearing away to London, on business or
pleasure, its secure and careless pilgrims. Splashing through puddles,
lopsidedly weighted by his bag, with his mackintosh flapping against his
legs, he gained the sanctuary of the waiting-room and booking-office,
which was lighted by a dim expiring lamp, and scrutinized the face of
the murky clock....

With a sob of relief he saw that he was in time. He was, indeed, in
exceptionally good time, for he had a quarter of an hour to wait. An
anxious internal debate followed as to whether or not he should take a
return ticket. Optimism, that is to say, the hope that he would return
to Tilling in peace and safety before the six months for which the
ticket was available inclined him to the larger expense, but in these
disquieting circumstances, it was difficult to be optimistic and he
purchased a first-class single, for on such a morning, and on such a
journey, he must get what comfort he could from looking-glasses, padded
seats and coloured photographs of places of interest on the line. He
formed no vision at all of the future: that was a dark well into which
it was dangerous t