ever can. Good-bye!"

She was gone, and I stood alone in the street, up which yellowish
wreaths of fog were beginning to roll. It had been quite clear and
bright when I entered the house, but now the sky was settling down into
a colourless grey, the light was failing and the houses dwindling into
dim, unreal shapes that vanished at half their height. Nevertheless I
stepped out briskly and strode along at a good pace, as a young man is
apt to do when his mind is in somewhat of a ferment. In truth, I had a
good deal to occupy my thoughts and, as will often happen both to young
men and old, those matters that bore most directly upon my own life and
prospects were the first to receive attention.

What sort of relations were growing up between Juliet Gibson and me? And
what was my position? As to hers, it seemed plain enough; she was
wrapped up in Reuben Hornby and I was her very good friend because I was
his. But for myself, there was no disguising the fact that I was
beginning to take an interest in her that boded ill for my peace of
mind.

Never had I met a woman who so entirely realised my conception of what a
woman should be, nor one who exercised so great a charm over me. Her
strength and dignity, her softness and dependency, to say nothing of her
beauty, fitted her with the necessary weapons for my complete and utter
subjugation. And utterly subjugated I was--there was no use in denying
the fact, even though I realised already that the time would presently
come when she would want me no more and there would remain no remedy for
me but to go away and try to forget her.

But was I acting as a man of honour? To this I felt I could fairly
answer "yes," for I was but doing my duty, and could hardly act
differently if I wished to. Besides, I was jeopardising no one's
happiness but my own, and a man may do as he pleases with his own
happiness. No; even Thorndyke could not accuse me of dishonourable
conduct.

Presently my thoughts took a fresh turn and I began to reflect upon what
I had heard concerning Mr. Hornby. Here was a startling development,
indeed, and I wondered what difference it would make in Thorndyke's
hypothesis of the crime. What his theory was I had never been able to
guess, but as I walked along through the thickening fog I tried to fit
this new fact into our collection of data and determine its bearings and
significance.

In this, for a time, I failed utterly. The red thumb-mark filled my
field of vi