"I am quite resolved. What time shall I come to the Temple?"

"About two o'clock, if that will suit you."

"Very well. I will be punctual; and now you must go or you will be
caught."

She pushed me gently towards the door and, holding out her hand, said--
"I haven't thanked you half enough and I never 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