The distant church-clocks chimed the quarter as he walked rapidly beyond the last houses in the suburb.

He asked the first policeman he met what hour that was of which the quarter past had just struck.
The man referred sleepily to his watch, and answered, "Two o'clock." Two in the morning.

What day of the month was this day that had just begun?
He reckoned it up from the date of his mother's funeral.

The fatal parallel was complete: it was his birthday! Had he escaped the mortal peril which his dream foretold?
or had he only received a second warning?
As that ominous doubt forced itself on his mind, he stopped, reflected, and turned back again toward the city.

He was still resolute to hold to his word, and never to let her see him more; but there was a thought now in his mind of having her watched and followed.