some long time while the tide was down, and even now that it was coming up, they could go but slowly.  The last through train to Marbridge would have left Paddington before the Tower Stairs were reached; but Julia did not mind that; she would go to Mr. Gillat; she could get a room at the house where he lodged for one night; she was glad at the thought of seeing Johnny again.  Johnny, who knew the worst and loved and trusted still.

Gradually the fog lifted, not clearing right away, but enough for the last of the sunset to show smoky, rose in a wonderful tawny sky.  All the russet-brown water kindled, each ripple edge catching a gleam of yellow, except to the eastward, where, by some trick of light, the main stream looked like a pool of dull silver, all pale and cold and holy.  The wharves and factories on the banks revealed themselves, heavy black outlines, pinnacled with chimneys like some far-off spired city.  All the craft that filled the river became clear too, those that lay still waiting repairs or cargo or the flood of the incoming tide, and those that moved—­the black Norwegian timber boats, the dirty tramp steamers from far-off seas, the smooth grey-hulled liners, the long strings of loaded barges, that followed one another up the great waterway like camels in a desert caravan.  Julia stood on deck and watched it all, and to her there seemed a certain sombre beauty and a something that moved her, though she could not tell why, with a curious baseless pride of race.  And while she watched, the twilight fell, and the colours turned to purple and grey, and the lights twinkled out in the shipping and along the shore—­hundreds and hundreds of lights; and gradually, like the murmur of the sea in a shell, the roar of the city grew on the ear, till at last the little boat reached the Stairs, where the old grey fortress looks down on the new grey bridge, and the restless river below.

A waterman put Julia ashore, after courtesies from the Custom House officers, and a porter took her and her belongings to Mark Lane station, from whence it was not difficult to get approximately near Berwick Street.

Mr. Gillat was not expecting visitors; he had no reason to imagine any one would come to see him; he did not imagine that the rings at the front bell could concern him; even when he heard steps coming up-stairs he only thought it was another lodger.  It was not till Julia opened the door of the back room he now occupied that he had the least idea any one had come to see him.

“Julia!” he exclaimed, when he saw her standing on the threshold.  “Dear, dear, dear me!”

“Yes,” Julia said, “it really is I. I’m back again, you see;” and she came in and shut the door.

“Bless my soul!” Johnny said; “bless my soul!  You’re home again!”

“On my way home; I can’t get to Marbridge to-night very comfortably, and I wanted to see you, so here I am.  I have arranged with your landlady to let me have a room.”