His thoughts were fixed upon one place; a great longing
drew him forth, into the darkness and the rain of the streets,
onwards in a fixed direction. It brought him to Westminster, and to
the gate of Tothill Fields Prison. The fetters upon the great doors
were hideous in the light of the lamps above them; the mean houses
around the gaol seemed to be rotting in its accursed shadow. A
deadly stillness possessed the air; there was blight in the dropping
of the rain.
He leaned against the great, gloomy wall, and thought of Ida. At
this hour she was most likely asleep, unless sorrow kept her waking.
What unimagined horrors did she suffer day after day in that
accursed prison-house? How did she bear her torments? Was she well
or ill? What brutality might she not be subjected to? He pictured
her face wasted with secret tears, those eyes which were the light
of his soul fixed on the walls of the cell, hour after hour, in
changeless despair, the fire of passionate resentment feeding at her
life's core.
The night became calmer. The rained ceased, and a sudden gleam made
him look up, to behold the moon breaking her way through billows of
darkness.
CHAPTER XXVI
STRAYING
The Enderbys were at Brighton during the autumn.
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