Page:Gissing - The Nether World, vol. I, 1889.djvu/42

 saw a familiar figure; she advanced again and eagerly delivered her message.

"All right, Jane! I'll walk on with you," was the reply. And whilst the other two men were laughing good-naturedly, Kirkwood strode away by the girl's side. He seemed to be absent-minded, and for some hundred yards' distance was silent; then he stopped of a sudden and looked down at his companion.

"Why, Jane," he said, "you'll get your death, running about in weather like this." He touched her dress. "I thought so; you're wet through."

There followed an inarticulate growl, and immediately he stripped off his short overcoat.

"Here, put this on, right over your head. Do as I tell you, child!"

He seemed impatient to-night. Wasn't he going to talk with her as before? Jane felt her heart sinking. With her hunger for kind and gentle words, she thought nothing of the character of the night, and that Sidney Kirkwood might reasonably be anxious to get over the ground as quickly as possible.