went into the parlour where Mrs. Whimple and Clara were seated
at work, I said nothing of my own interest in Mr. Campbell, but
kept it to myself.

When I had taken leave of the pretty gentle dark-eyed girl,
and of the motherly woman who had not outlived her honest sym-
pathy with a little affair of true love, I felt as if the Old Green
Copper Rope-Walk had grown quite a different place. Old Bar-
ley might be as old as the hills, and might swear like a whole
field of troopers, but there were redeeming youth and trust and
hope enough in Chink's Basin to fill it to overflowing. And then I
thought of Estella, and of our parting, and went home very sadly.

All things were as quiet in the Temple as ever I had seen them.
The windows of the rooms of that side, lately occupied by Provis,
were dark and still, and there was no lounger in Garden Court.
I walked past the fountain twice or thrice before I descended the
steps that were between me and my rooms, but I was quite alone.
Herbert coming to my bedside when he came in--for I went
straight to bed, dispirited and fatigued--made the same report.
Opening one of the windows after that, he looked out into the
moonlight, and told me that the pavement was as solemnly empty
as the pavement of any Cathedral at that same hour.

Next day, I set myself to get the boat. It was soon done, and
the boat was brought round to the Temple stairs, and lay where I
could reach her within a minute or two. Then, I began to go out
as for training and practice: sometimes alone, sometimes with
Herbert. I was often out in cold, rain, and sleet, but nobody took
much note of me after I had been out a few times. At first, I kept
above Blackfriars Bridge; but as the hours of the tide changed,
I took towards London Bridge. It was Old London Bridge in those
days, and at certain states of the tide there was a race and a fall
of water there which gave it a bad reputation. But I knew well
enough how to 'shoot' the bridge after seeing it done, and so be-
gan to row about among the shipping in the Pool, and down to
Erith. The first time I passed Mill Pond Bank, Herbert and I
were pulling a pair of oars; and, both in going and returning, we
saw the blinds towards the east come down. Herbert was rarely
there less frequently than three times in a week, and he never

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