s constantly in his mind, and her
image clear at times in the dark before him, but he could not think
about her as he wished and tried to do. Who was it that seemed to come
between her and him?--some one he knew, yet could not identify. Then
the hours sounded uncertainly; some he appeared to have missed. There,
at length, was seven. Why, this was morning; and Slimy had promised
that he should be set free before this. What was it that tortured his
struggling brain so? A thought he strove in vain for a time to grasp.
The meaning flashed upon him. By a great effort he regained complete
consciousness; mind alone seemed to be left to him, his body was dead.
Was he, then, really to be prevented from keeping his promise to Ida?
All the suffering of his previous life amassed was nothing to what
Waymark endured during the successive quarters of this hour. His brain
burned: his eyes had no power to gather the growing daylight. That one
name was his single perception; the sound of it, uttered incessantly in
thought, alone seemed to keep him conscious. He could feel something
slightly warm on his cheeks, but did not know that it was the streaming
of tears from his darkened eyes. Then he lost consciousness once more.

The clock struck eight.

CHAPTER XXIX

FREEDOM

Mr. Woodstock was not so indifferent with regard to Waymark's failure
to bring the rents as the young man supposed. Under ordinary
circumstances he probably would have waited without any anxiety till
the following day; already on a previous occasion Waymark had collected
on Tuesday instead of Monday, though not without notice of his
intention to do so. But Mr. Woodstock had quite special reasons for
wishing to see his agent before the following morning; he desired to
assure himself once more that Waymark would not fail to be at the
prison punctually. When the afternoon passed without the usual visit,
he grew uneasy; he was incapable of attending to matters of business,
and walked up and down his office with impatient step. Such a mood was
extraordinary in Mr. Woodstock; he had often waxed restive in this or
that business difficulty; was, indeed, anything but remarkable for
equanimity under trial; but his state of mind was quite different at
present, and exhibited itself in entirely different ways. He neither
swore nor looked black; his was the anxiety of a man who has some grave
interest at stake wherein the better part of his nature is concerned.

At five o