'I leave here to-morrow. And until I
start for the Continent and India, which will be in a fortnight, I
shall have hardly a moment to spare.'
Knight's disappointment and dissatisfied looks at this reply sent
a pang through Stephen as great as any he had felt at the sight of
Elfride. The words about shortness of time were literally true,
but their tone was far from being so. He would have been
gratified to talk with Knight as in past times, and saw as a dead
loss to himself that, to save the woman who cared nothing for him,
he was deliberately throwing away his friend.
'Oh, I am sorry to hear that,' said Knight, in a changed tone.
'But of course, if you have weighty concerns to attend to, they
must not be neglected. And if this is to be our first and last
meeting, let me say that I wish you success with all my heart!'
Knight's warmth revived towards the end; the solemn impressions he
was beginning to receive from the scene around them abstracting
from his heart as a puerility any momentary vexation at words.
'It is a strange place for us to meet in,' he continued, looking
round the vault.
Stephen briefly assented, and there was a silence. The blackened
coffins were now revealed more clearly than at first, the whitened
walls and arches throwing them forward in strong relief. It was a
scene which was remembered by all three as an indelible mark in
their history. Knight, with an abstracted face, was standing
between his companions, though a little in advance of them,
Elfride being on his right hand, and Stephen Smith on his left.
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