'You must wish that you had never seen me, but I can never lose the hope that we may some day be friends again.' The haggard man went his way in silence.

Egremont, throwing himself upon a seat in utter weariness, felt more alone than ever yet in his life....
Who or what was left to him now?
A little while ago, when he had felt that his connection with the world of wealth and refinement was practically at an end, it seemed more than a substitute to look forward to intimacy with that one household in Lambeth, and to associations that would arise thence.

He believed that it would henceforth content him to have friends in the sphere to which he belonged by birth, and, for the needs of his mind, to find companionship among his books.

He saw before him a career of practical usefulness such as only a man in his peculiar position could pursue with unwavering zeal.

What now was to become of his future?
Where were his friends?
Grail had said that in Lambeth people were gossiping evil of him.