Roderick did not come home to dinner; but of this, with his passion for brooding away the hours on far-off mountain sides, he had almost made a habit.

Mrs.Hudson appeared at the noonday repast with a face which showed that Roderick's demand for money had unsealed the fountains of her distress.

Little Singleton consumed an enormous and well-earned dinner.

Miss Garland, Rowland observed, had not contributed her scanty assistance to her kinsman's pursuit of the Princess Casamassima without an effort.

The effort was visible in her pale face and her silence; she looked so ill that when they left the table Rowland felt almost bound to remark upon it.