He passed down Fetter Lane into Fleet Street and so to the Temple,
to which I had just returned from my summer holiday. It was about half
past nine, and I was having my breakfast, when I heard a timid knock
at the door and opened it to find Ernest.
CHAPTER LXX
I HAD begun to like him on the night Towneley had sent for me, and
on the following day I thought he had shaped well. I had liked him
also during our interview in prison, and wanted to see more of him, so
that I might make up my mind about him. I had lived long enough to
know that some men who do great things in the end are not very wise
when they are young; knowing that he would leave prison on the 30th, I
had expected him, and, as I had a spare bedroom, pressed him to stay
with me till he could make up his mind what he would do.
Being so much older than he was, I anticipated no trouble in getting
my own way, but he would not hear of it. The utmost he would assent to
was that he should be my guest till he could find a room for
himself, which he would set about doing at once.
He was still much agitated, but grew better as he ate a breakfast,
not of prison fare and in a comfortable room.
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