Come at once." I was shocked at this bad news, and determined to start for London by the next train.
I obtained leave of absence, and hastened to my lodgings to pack up my few necessaries for the journey.

By the time I arrived there, the shock of the telegram had in some way abated, and I was able to contemplate my journey more calmly.

I consulted a time-table, and found that there was one train which, by hurrying, I could just catch in a quarter of an hour, and that the next went in the afternoon.
By the time I had made up my mind which to take, and inquired where a lad could be found who would carry down my portmanteau to the station, it was too late to catch the first train, and I therefore had three hours to spare before I could leave.

This delay, in my anxious condition, worried me, and I was at a loss how to occupy the interval.
If I had been wise, I should never have quitted that station till I did so in the train.

But, alas! I decided to take a stroll instead.