ter is staying. He was
all eagerness to be reconciled with his dear friend--principally, I have
no doubt, because he wants the dear friend to lend a helping hand to the
elopement. The real difficulty lay, of course, with Midwinter. My sudden
journey to London had allowed me no opportunity of writing to combat his
superstitious conviction that he and his former friend are better apart.
I thought it wise to leave Armadale in the cab at the door, and to go
into the hotel by myself to pave the way for him.

"Fortunately, Midwinter had not gone out. His delight at seeing me some
days sooner than he had hoped had something infectious in it, I suppose.
Pooh! I may own the truth to my own diary! There was a moment when _I_
forgot everything in the world but our two selves as completely as he
did. I felt as if I was back in my teens--until I remembered the lout in
the cab at the door. And then I was five-and-thirty again in an instant.

"His face altered when he heard who was below, and what it was I wanted
of him; he looked not angry, but distressed. He yielded, however, before
long, not to my reasons, for I gave him none, but to my entreaties.
His old fondness for his friend might possibly have had some share in
persuading him against his will; but my own opinion is that he acted
entirely under the influence of his fondness for Me.

"I waited in the sitting-room while he went down to the door; so I
knew nothing of what passed between them when they first saw each other
again. But oh, the difference between the two men when the interval had
passed, and they came upstairs together and joined me.

"They were both agitated, but in such different ways! The hateful
Armadale, so loud and red and clumsy; the dear, lovable Midwinter, so
pale and quiet, with such a gentleness in his voice when he spoke, and
such tenderness in his eyes every time they turned my way. Armadale
overlooked me as completely as if I had not been in the room. _He_
referred to me over and over again in the conversation; _he_ constantly
looked at me to see what I thought, while I sat in my corner silently
watching them; _he_ wanted to go with me and see me safe to my lodgings,
and spare me all trouble with the cabman and the luggage. When I thanked
him and declined, Armadale looked unaffectedly relieved at the prospect
of seeing my back turned, and of having his friend all to himself.
I left him, with his awkward elbows half over the table, scrawling a
letter