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Then the daylight crept back again, and he
looked round and saw that he was alone.

CHAPTER VII.
IT had long been dark when Arthur rang at the
front door of the great house in the Via Borra. He
remembered that he had been wandering about
the streets; but where, or why, or for how long, he
had no idea. Julia's page opened the door, yawning,
and grinned significantly at the haggard,
stony face. It seemed to him a prodigious joke to
have the young master come home from jail like
a "drunk and disorderly" beggar. Arthur went
upstairs. On the first floor he met Gibbons coming
down with an air of lofty and solemn disapproval.
He tried to pass with a muttered "Good
evening"; but Gibbons was no easy person to get
past against his will.
"The gentlemen are out, sir," he said, looking
critically at Arthur's rather neglected dress and
hair. "They have gone with the mistress to an
evening party, and will not be back till nearly
twelve."
Arthur looked at his watch; it was nine o'clock.


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