In they came, and I looked on the woman, and would have leaped from my
bed had the strength been in me. Superb she was, though her
close-fitting travelling gown of green cloth was frayed and torn by the
briers, and the beauty of her face enhanced by the marks of I know not
what trials and emotions. Little, dark-pencilled lines under the eyes
were nigh robbing these of the haughtiness I had once seen and hated.
Set high on her hair was a curving, green hat with a feather, ill-suited
to the wilderness.

I looked on the man. He was as ill-equipped as she. A London tailor
must have cut his suit of gray. A single band of linen, soiled by the
journey, was wound about his throat, and I remember oddly the buttons
stuck on his knees and cuffs, and these silk-embroidered in a criss-cross
pattern of lighter gray. Some had been torn off. As for his face, 'twas
as handsome as ever, for dissipation sat well upon it.

My thoughts flew back to that day long gone when a friendless boy rode up
a long drive to a pillared mansion. I saw again the picture. The horse
with the craning neck, the liveried servant at the bridle, the listless
young gentleman with the shiny boots reclining on the horse-block, and
above him, under the portico, the grand lady whose laugh had made me sad.
And I remembered, too, the wild, neglected lad who had been to me as a
brother, warm-hearted and generous, who had shared what he had with a
foundling, who had wept with me in my first great sorrow. Where was he?

For I was face to face once more with Mrs. Temple and Mr. Harry Riddle!

The lady started as she gazed at me, and her tired eyes widened. She
clutched Mr. Riddle's arm.