Basil

Chapter 6

It was still early in the morning, when a loud knock sounded at the

house-door, and I heard the landlady calling to the servant: "A

gentleman to see the gentleman who came in last night." The moment the

words reached me, my thoughts recurred to the letter of yesterday--Had

Mannion found me out in my retreat? As the suspicion crossed my mind,

the door opened, and the visitor entered.

His manner altered as he spoke the last words. The look of sorrow and

alarm which he fixed on me, went to my heart. I thought of

holiday-time, when we were boys; of Ralph's boisterous ways with me;

of his good-humoured school-frolics, at my expense; of the strong bond

of union between us, so strangely compounded of my weakness and his

strength; of my passive and of his active nature; I saw how little