in a
hansom. Feverishly she paraded the street, stopping here a minute, there
a minute; keeping well within the shadow, and avoiding the encounter of
every chance passer-by. Now and again she heard the ring of a hansom,
the smart trot of a horse, and she held her breath with excitement. And
there was even a minute when hansoms came dashing into the street one
after the other; most of them to pass right through it, and only one or
two to draw up in the street itself.

Midnight sounded, but still no sign of Wyndham. She looked up at the
sky, but was surprised to find the stars were blotted out. A spot of
rain fell on her upturned face. Her sense of misery reasserted itself,
and with it came a sullen resolution to stay out till dawn, if needs be.
Again she went to the Hospital end of the road and took up a discreet
point of vantage. But again the tramp of a policeman scared her away,
and accepting this as a sort of unpropitious omen she definitely decided
to keep to the other end. She was like a gambler uncertain how to stake,
but at last abruptly deciding for any irrelevant reason.

The minutes passed, infinitely long to her now impatient mood. The
spots of rain kept falling. The neighbouring clock boomed out the
quarters. At last another hansom--coming from the abandoned direction!
Back she went again into the road, but it had stopped short farther
down. The studio was still in darkness. Strangely disappointed and
fatigued almost to the point of falling, she dragged her worn feet once
more down to the Embankment, keeping her wits alert with a sustained
effort, that grew harder and harder. This time she did not cross to the
parapet, but walked under the great red brick houses, noticing idly
their gates and doorways as they loomed on her. And her eyes were half
closed in spite of her struggle. The trot of a horse, and the rattle and
tinkle of a hansom sounded just then, coming smartly along the avenue.
But she went on more and more as if in a dream, taking one step only
because she had taken the last. Nearer and nearer came the hansom,
louder and louder beat the horse's hoofs on the asphalte, but she
pursued her meaningless way, without paying any heed to it. Her senses
had almost left her. She opened her eyes suddenly, and, looking towards
the river, saw that a greyish mist hung over it, that the pavements were
wet and glistening. Ah, yes, the water lay below, dark and soft, full of
an eternal peace. The message that ha