r minute with stern
acquiescence in the inevitable order. His expression was so severe, so
serene, so immobile, that it seemed obvious that for him at least there
was a grandeur in the departing hour which no petty irritation on his
part was to mar, although the wasting time wasted also high private
hopes of his own.

His face was no bad index to what went on within him. He was in a
condition of mind rather too exalted for the trivialities of daily life.
He could not accept the fact that a lady was fifteen minutes late in
keeping her appointment without seeing in that accident the frustration
of his entire life. Looking at his watch, he seemed to look deep into
the springs of human existence, and by the light of what he saw there
altered his course towards the north and the midnight.... Yes, one's
voyage must be made absolutely without companions through ice and black
water--towards what goal? Here he laid his finger upon the half-hour,
and decided that when the minute-hand reached that point he would go, at
the same time answering the question put by another of the many voices
of consciousness with the reply that there was undoubtedly a goal, but
that it would need the most relentless energy to keep anywhere in its
direction. Still, still, one goes on, the ticking seconds seemed to
assure him, with dignity, with open eyes, with determination not to
accept the second-rate, not to be tempted by the unworthy, not to yield,
not to compromise. Twenty-five minutes past three were now marked upon
the face of the watch. The world, he assured himself, since Katharine
Hilbery was now half an hour behind her time, offers no happiness, no
rest from struggle, no certainty. In a scheme of things utterly bad from
the start the only unpardonable folly is that of hope. Raising his
eyes for a moment from the face of his watch, he rested them upon the
opposite bank, reflectively and not without a certain wistfulness, as
if the sternness of their gaze were still capable of mitigation. Soon a
look of the deepest satisfaction filled them, though, for a moment, he
did not move. He watched a lady who came rapidly, and yet with a trace
of hesitation, down the broad grass-walk towards him. She did not see
him. Distance lent her figure an indescribable height, and romance
seemed to surround her from the floating of a purple veil which the
light air filled and curved from her shoulders.

"Here she comes, like a ship in full sail," he said to him