But Hinton, wrapped in the gloom of his own thoughts, preferred to remain where he was. Already he seemed to belong to the dark, to be a thing apart from his fellow-men. He shrank from companionship and sympathy as he shrank from the light. He longed to crawl away like a sick animal into some lonely corner and die. Whichever way he turned, the great specter of darkness loomed before him. At first he had fought, then he had philosophically stood still, now he was retreating. Again and again he told himself that he would meet it like a man, and again and again he shrank back, ready to seek escape anywhere, anyhow. "O God, if I weren't so damnably young!" he cried to himself, beating his clenched hand against his brow. "More than half my life yet to live, and in the dark!" The rattle of wheels and the stopping of a light in front of the hotel made him pull himself together. The small gentleman in the checked suit whom he had seen on the wharf strode in without seeing him. He paused before he opened the door and smoothed his scanty locks and rearranged his pink necktie. Then he drew in his chin, threw out his chest, and with a carefully prepared smile of welcome entered. The buzz within increased, and it was some minutes before the door opened again and Jimmy Fallows was heard saying: "He's round here some place. Mr. Hinton! Oh, here you are! Let me make you acquainted with Mr. Opp; he's going to take you out to his house for the night." No sooner had Hinton's hand been released from Mr. Opp's cordial grasp than he felt that gentleman's arm thrust through his, and was aware of being rapidly conducted down the steps and out to the vehicle. "On no possible account," Mr. Opp was saying, with Hinton's grip in one hand and two umbrellas in the other, "would I have allowed myself to be late, except that it was what you might consider absolutely necessary. Now, you get right in; just take all that robe. No, the grip can go right here between my feet. We trust that you will not regard the weather in any ways synonymous with the state of our feelings of welcome." Mr. Hinton remarked rather shortly that the weather never mattered to him one way or another. "That's precisely like myself," Mr. Opp went on. "I come of very sturdy, enduring stock. For a man of my size I doubt if you'd find a finer constitution in the country. You wouldn't particularly think it to look at me, now would you?" Hinton looked at the small, stooping figure, and at the peaked, sallow face, and said rather sarcastically that he would not. "Strong as an ox," declared Mr. Opp. Just here the horse stumbled, and they were jerked violently forward.