I said to myself: "This scene in the drama of your life, my friend, has closed in; you must enter on another, or drop the curtain at once." Of course I entered on another.
Taking leave of my publisher, I went to consult an artist-friend on my future prospects.

I supposed myself to be merely on my way to a change of profession.

As destiny ordered it, I was also on my way to the woman who was not only to be the object of my first love, but the innocent cause of the great disaster of my life.
I first saw her in one of the narrow streets leading from Leicester Square to the Strand.

There was something in her face (dimly visible behind a thick veil) that instantly stopped me as I passed her.

I looked back and hesitated.