but Julia
did not mind that; she would go to Mr. Gillat; she could get a room at
the house where he lodged for one night; she was glad at the thought
of seeing Johnny again. Johnny, who knew the worst and loved and
trusted still.

Gradually the fog lifted, not clearing right away, but enough for the
last of the sunset to show smoky, rose in a wonderful tawny sky. All
the russet-brown water kindled, each ripple edge catching a gleam of
yellow, except to the eastward, where, by some trick of light, the
main stream looked like a pool of dull silver, all pale and cold and
holy. The wharves and factories on the banks revealed themselves,
heavy black outlines, pinnacled with chimneys like some far-off spired
city. All the craft that filled the river became clear too, those that
lay still waiting repairs or cargo or the flood of the incoming tide,
and those that moved--the black Norwegian timber boats, the dirty
tramp steamers from far-off seas, the smooth grey-hulled liners, the
long strings of loaded barges, that followed one another up the great
waterway like camels in a desert caravan. Julia stood on deck and
watched it all, and to her there seemed a certain sombre beauty and a
something that moved her, though she could not tell why, with a
curious baseless pride of race. And while she watched, the twilight
fell, and the colours turned to purple and grey, and the lights
twinkled out in the shipping and along the shore--hundreds and
hundreds of lights; and gradually, like the murmur of the sea in a
shell, the roar of the city grew on the ear, till at last the little
boat reached the Stairs, where the old grey fortress looks down on the
new grey bridge, and the restless river below.

A waterman put Julia ashore, after courtesies from the Custom House
officers, and a porter took her and her belongings to Mark Lane
station, from whence it was not difficult to get approximately near
Berwick Street.

Mr. Gillat was not expecting visitors; he had no reason to imagine any
one would come to see him; he did not imagine that the rings at the
front bell could concern him; even when he heard steps coming
up-stairs he only thought it was another lodger. It was not till
Julia opened the door of the back room he now occupied that he had the
least idea any one had come to see him.

"Julia!" he exclaimed, when he saw her standing on the threshold.
"Dear, dear, dear me!"

"Yes," Julia said, "it really is I. I'm back again, you see;" a