Tell Lister I shall be very pleased to see him if he will look me up at the Pnyx when he is next in town.
"Ever yours,--JOHN SALTRAM." This was all.

There was no explanation of the reason for this hurried journey,--a strange omission between men who were on terms of such perfect confidence as obtained with these two.

Gilbert Fenton was not a little disturbed by this unlooked-for event, fearing that some kind of evil had befallen his friend.
"His money matters may have fallen into a desperate condition," he thought; "or perhaps that woman--that Mrs.Branston, is at the bottom of the business." He went to the cottage that morning as usual, but not with his accustomed feeling of unalloyed happiness.

The serene heaven of his tranquil life was clouded a little by this strange conduct of John Saltram's.

It wounded him to think that his old companion was keeping a secret from him.
"I suppose it is because I lectured him a little about Mrs.Branston the other day," he said to himself.