swift
glance, however, he saw that she did not recognize him. His resolve was
taken on the instant. However uncomfortable the rooms she had to offer,
they should be his. His interest in this Mrs. Home became intensified to
a degree that was painful. He knew that he was about to pursue a course
which would be to his own detriment, but he felt it impossible now to
turn aside. In a quiet voice, and utterly unconscious of this tumult in
his breast, she asked him to be seated, and they began to discuss the
accommodation she could offer.

Her back and front drawing-rooms would be vacant in a week. Yes,
certainly; Mr. Hinton could see them. She rang the bell as she spoke,
and the maid appearing, took Hinton up stairs. The rooms were even
smaller and shabbier than he had believed possible. Nevertheless, when
he came downstairs he found no fault with anything, and agreed to the
terms asked, namely, one guinea a week. He noticed a tremor in the
young, brave voice which asked for this remuneration, and he longed to
make the one guinea two, but this was impossible. Before he left he had
taken Mrs. Home's drawing-rooms for a month, and had arranged to come
into possession of his new quarters that day week.

Looking at his watch when he left the house, he found that time had gone
faster than he had any idea of. He had now barely an hour to jump into a
cab, go to his present most comfortable lodgings, change his morning
dress, and reach the Harmans in time for eight o'clock dinner. Little
more than these sixty minutes elapsed from the time he left the shabby
house in Kentish Town before he found himself in the luxurious abode of
wealth, and every refinement, in Prince's Gate. He ran up to the
drawing-room, to find Charlotte waiting for him alone.

"Uncle Jasper will dine with us, John," she said, "but my father is not
well."

"Not well!" echoed Hinton. Her face only expressed slight concern, and
his reflected it in a lesser degree.

"He is very tired," she said, "and he looks badly. But I hope there is
not much the matter. He will see you after dinner. But he could not eat,
so I have begged of him to lie down; he will be all right after a little
rest."

Hinton made no further remark, and Uncle Jasper then coming in, and
dinner being announced, they all went downstairs.

Uncle Jasper and Charlotte were merry enough, but Hinton could not get
over a sense of depression, which not even the presence of the woman he
loved could di