Then, when she had left the room, seeing no prospect that either of my companions would be in a fit state for lunch, I made a solitary meal, and had just finished when a cab stopped at the door and out sprang Derrick.

I went into the passage to meet him.
"The Major is asleep," I remarked.
He took no more notice than if I had spoken of the cat.
"I'm going to London," he said, making for the stairs.

"Can you get your bag ready?
There's a train at 2.5." Somehow the suddenness and the self-control with which he made this announcement carried me back to the hotel at Southampton, where, after listening to the account of the ship's doctor, he had announced his intention of living with his father.

For more than two years he had borne this awful life; he had lost pretty nearly all that there was to be lost and he had gained the Major's vindictive hatred.

Now, half maddened by pain, and having, as he thought, so hopelessly failed, he saw nothing for it but to go--and that at once.
I packed my bag, and then went to help him.