Page:Gissing - The Nether World, vol. II, 1889.djvu/44

 The old gentleman thus presented held out his hand with something of fatherly geniality.

“Miss Snowdon, I hope to have the pleasure of seeing you again hefore long, but just now I am carrying off your grandfather for a couple of hours, and indeed we mustn’t linger that number of minutes. You look well, I think?”

He stood and examined her intently, then cried:

“Come, my dear sir, come! we shall be late.”

Snowdon was already prepared for walking. He spoke a few words to Jane, then followed Mr. Percival downstairs.

Flurried by the encounter, Jane stood looking about her. Then came a rush of disappointment, as she reflected that the visitor of Wednesday evenings would call in vain. Hearing that her grandfather was absent, doubtless he would take his leave at once. Or, would he?

In a minute or two she ran downstairs to exchange a word with Mrs. Byass. On