se grating a faded nosegay left there in summer defied all
speculations as to a fire.

In this comfortless chamber three persons now paraded with that quick
step and brisk motion that bespeak a walk for warmth and exercise; for
dismal as it was within doors, it was still preferable to the scene
without, where a cold incessant rain was falling, that, on the hills
around, took the form of snow. The last lingerers at a watering-place,
like those who cling on to a wreck, have usually something peculiarly
sad in their aspect. Unable, as it were, to brave the waves like strong
swimmers, they hold on to the last with some vague hope of escape, and,
like a shipwrecked crew, drawing closer to each other in adversity than
in more prosperous times, they condescend now to acquaintance, and
even intimacy, where, before, a mere nod of recognition was alone
interchanged. Such were the three who now, buttoned up to the chin,
and with hands deeply thrust into side-pockets, paced backwards and
forwards, sometimes exchanging a few words, but in that broken
and discursive fashion that showed that no tie of mutual taste or
companionship had bound them together.

The youngest of the party was a small and very slightly made man of
about five or six-and-twenty, whose face, voice, and figure were almost
feminine, and, only for a very slight line of black moustache, might
have warranted the suspicion of a disguise. His lacquered boots and
spotless yellow gloves appeared somewhat out of season, as well as the
very light textured coat which he wore; but Mr. Albert Jekyl had been
accidentally detained at Baden, waiting for that cruel remittance which,
whether the sin be that of agent or relative, is ever so slow of coming.
That he bore the inconvenience admirably (and without the slightest show
of impatience) it is but fair to confess; and whatever chagrin either
the detention, the bad weather, or the solitude may have occasioned, no
vestige of discontent appeared upon features where a look of practised
courtesy, and a most bland smile, gave the predominant expression. "Who
he was," or, in other words, whence he came, of what family, with what
fortune, pursuits, or expectations, we are not ashamed to confess our
utter ignorance, seeing that it was shared by all those that tarried
that season at Baden, with whom, however, he lived on terms of easy and
familiar intercourse.

The next to him was a bilious-looking man, somewhat past the middle of
li