As a matter of form, he supplied the police with information concerning the theft.  Of recovery there could be little hope.

Thoroughly awakened and sober, he walked across London to Gower Place arriving in the light of dawn.  Too spiritless to take off his clothing, he lay upon the bed, and through the open window watched a great cloud that grew rosy above the opposite houses.

Would Eve be at the place of meeting today?  It seemed to him totally indifferent whether she came or not; nay, he all but hoped that she would not.  He had been guilty of prodigious folly.  The girl belonged to another man; and even had it not been so, what was the use of flinging away his money at this rate?  Did he look for any reward correspondent to the sacrifice?  She would never love him, and it was not in his power to complete the work he had begun, by freeing her completely from harsh circumstances, setting her in a path of secure and pleasant life.

But she would not come, and so much the better.  With only himself to provide for he had still money enough to travel far.  He would see something of the great world, and leave his future to destiny.

He dozed for an hour or two.

Whilst he was at breakfast a letter arrived for him.  He did not know the handwriting on the envelope, but it must be Eve’s.  Yes.  She wrote a couple of lines:  “I will be at the station to-morrow at a quarter to eleven.—­E.  M.”

CHAPTER XIV

One travelling bag was all he carried.  Some purchases that he had made in London—­especially the great work on French cathedrals—­ were already despatched to Birmingham, to lie in the care of Robert Narramore.

He reached Charing Cross half an hour before train-time, and waited at the entrance.  Several cabs that drove up stirred his expectation only to disappoint him.  He was again in an anguish of fear lest Eve should not come.  A cab arrived, with two boxes of modest appearance.  He stepped forward and saw the girls’ faces.

Between him and Eve not a word passed.  They avoided each other’s look.  Patty, excited and confused, shook hands with him.

“Go on to the platform,” he said.  “I’ll see after everything.  This is all the luggage?”

“Yes.  One box is mine, and one Eve’s.  I had to face it out with the people at home,” she added, between laughing and crying.  “They think I’m going to the seaside, to stay with Eve till she gets better.  I never told so many fibs in my life.  Uncle stormed at me, but I don’t care.”

“All right; go on to the platform.”

Eve was already walking in that direction.  Undeniably she looked ill; her step was languid; she did not raise her eyes.  Hilliard, when he had taken tickets and booked the luggage through to Paris, approached his travelling companions.  Seeing him, Eve turned away.

“I shall go in a smoking compartment,” he said to Patty.  “You had better take your tickets.”