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

 after her friend’s departure; “I won’t give up as long as she looks in now and then.”

Out from the swarm of babies Jane hurried homewards. She had a reason for wishing to be back in good time to-night; it was Wednesday, and on Wednesday evening there was wont to come a visitor, who sat for a couple of hours in her grandfather’s room and talked, talked,—the most interesting talk Jane had ever heard or could imagine. A latch-key admitted her; she ran up to the second floor. A voice from the front room caught her ear; certainly not his voice,—it was too early,—but that of some unusual visitor. She was on the point of entering her own chamber, when the other door opened, and somebody exclaimed, “Ah, here she is!”

The speaker was an old gentleman, dressed in black, bald, with small and rather rugged features; his voice was pleasant. A gold chain and a bunch of seals shone against his waistcoat, also a pair of eyeglasses. A professional man, obviously. Jane remembered