He bade her good-bye and went his way, wondering vaguely what had happened to them both.

The conversation had taken quite a different turn to what he had expected and intended.
But somehow it had got beyond his control.

He had looked forward to a very different ending to the interview.

And now he found himself returning somewhat disconsolately to the wretched hotel in Loango--dismissed--sent back.
The next day he actually left the little West African coast town, turning his face northward with bad grace.

Even at that distance, he feared Jack Meredith's half-veiled sarcasm.