Page 213 (1/2)

He strolled on aientle melancholy He walked and

walked There were but few people about in this breathing space of a

poor neighbourhood Under certain conditions of life there is precious

little ti But still a few here and there were

indulging in that luxury; yet few as they were Captain Anthony, though

the least exclusive of men, resented their presence Solitude had been

his best friend He wanted some place where he could sit down and be

alone And in his need his thoughts turned to the sea which had given

hienial solitude There, if alith his ship

(but that was an integral part of him) he could always be as solitary as

he chose Yes Get out to sea!

The night of the toith its strings of lights, rigid, and crossed like

a net of flames, thrown over the sombre immensity of walls, closed round

hi by an emphatic blackness,

its unnatural anihts

which sole

person glimpsed under a street laure which certainly could not have been seen under the laure shut up within high

unscaleable walls of stone or bricks till next ure

of Flora de Barral's father De Barral the financier--the convict

There is souilt and

retribution which arrests the thought We feel ourselves in the presence