"I am going to the hotel," he said, "to lie down. I feel quite worn out."
"When may I see you again?" asked Foster, accompanying him to the door.
"To-morrow, when Roper arrives," and Monteith left the room without saying good-bye.
"Poor boy!" said Gerald, as he went back to his work, "he is very much cut up--and no wonder! Where will it all end? I expect in smoke; because the evidence is too slight, even to convict that woman. Well, we shall see when Roper arrives."
Ronald walked along the crowded street as in a dream, and paid no attention to the buzz of voices around and the noise of the traffic. So preoccupied he was with his own sad thoughts that he did not see that a man was walking beside him, till the latter spoke, and then he looked up with a start, and saw Vassalla looking at him with an amused smile.
"Eh, my friend," said the Marchese, lightly, "in what day-dream are you lost?"
"Not a very pleasant one," returned Ronald, coldly. "I was thinking of our conversation this morning." Vassalla shrugged his shoulders.
"You might have had more pleasant thoughts," he said, with a sneer.
"I might," returned Monteith, emphatically. "I might have thought every word you said this morning true."
The Marchese changed colour a little, and drew himself up haughtily.