s, the
difficulties with which he was beset seemed very light and unimportant.
The girl he had loved was going to be his; that thought was quite enough
for such a morning. He had nearly reached the centre of the wood, when
he stopped to take out his pipe and pouch, and he was about to strike a
match, when he saw something white passing between the trees at a little
distance from him.

At first he thought it was Celia, and, with a leap of the lover's heart,
he took a step forward; then he stopped short; the figure was that of a
man in flannels; and a moment or two afterwards, he had recognised
Heyton. The disappointment was great; he had no desire to meet Heyton;
the sight of him recalled the bitter past; and Derrick stood, frowning
as he watched Heyton on his way to the lake. He saw Heyton stop and look
round him, and then he lost sight of him, for Heyton was bending down in
the act of hiding the jewel-case. When he rose, Derrick got a clear
sight of the man's face, and something in its expression impressed
Derrick curiously, painfully.

Nothing stops still in this world of ours; and men must go up or down.
It was evident to Derrick that Heyton had gone very much down since he
had last seen him. Heyton's face had coarsened, his lips had grown
looser and more sensual, there were bags under his eyes; but it was not
these grosser changes which struck Derrick so much, as the expression of
the man's face; it was that of one burdened by some oppression of mind
or body; it seemed to Derrick that the light, prominent eyes had in them
a look of fear, the look a man wears when he is hunted and driven.

And why, just before he had disappeared, had Heyton looked round him,
secretively, cautiously, as if he did not wish to be seen? It was
ridiculous, Derrick told himself; but it seemed to him as if Heyton were
hiding something. Half-unconsciously, he made a mental note of the spot
at which Heyton had made that curious pause in his progress. But Derrick
did not go to it; he wanted particularly to avoid Heyton--and Miriam,
everyone connected with that wretched past which still hung over him
like a cloud. So he returned to the road and went straight back to the
inn.

Awaiting him, he found a letter from the engineers concerning matters
which needed his immediate presence in London. He had just time to
snatch a hasty breakfast, left word with the landlord for Reggie that
he, Derrick, was obliged to go to London but would return by t