the
railway station, found that the price of a third-class ticket to London
was five shillings and threepence, and that there were several trains
during the morning.

When I had returned home to change my shirt, I wandered along the road
in the direction of Colebrook Park, but passed the lodge gates several
times without the satisfaction of seeing any sign of Jacintha or her
brother. Later in the day rain began to fall again, and continued until
bedtime, throughout the night, and through the whole of Sunday, so that
I only went out to church in the morning, and spent a far from
unpleasant afternoon listening to stories from Emma's husband. It
appeared that he had been a soldier, and passed through an Egyptian
campaign, to the success of which, according to his own account, he must
to no mean extent have contributed. In the evening I went again to the
church a few doors off. On Monday, seeing that the sun was shining, I
determined to make one more effort to see Dick or Jacintha before
setting out to London. The walk to Colebrook Park, where I hung about
for an hour or more, proved again entirely unavailing, however, and
turning towards the railway station, I changed another sovereign for a
ticket, and reached the platform ten minutes before the half-past eleven
train was due.

CHAPTER XVI.

While waiting for the train, I took the opportunity to count my money,
and finding how rapidly it had diminished, almost regretted the
determination to travel luxuriously by the railway, instead of walking
the rest of the distance to London. But, on the other hand, it appeared
highly desirable to present a respectable appearance when at last I
began to look for work in earnest. I had learned enough since leaving
Castlemore to understand that it would not do to be too particular as to
the nature of such employment, but that it could be possible to search
in vain scarcely seemed to me likely.

There being few passengers, I entered an empty third-class compartment,
and began to eat some meat patties which I had bought on the way from
Colebrook Park. At the first stoppage a middle-aged woman entered the
compartment, taking a seat by the farther window, but at Midbrook, about
three-quarters of the way to London, we were joined by a man, who
lowered himself gently into the seat facing my own, with his face
towards the engine.

He looked sixty years of age, or perhaps somewhat older, and had one of
the most benevolent-looking