"
"Wait till we meet him on our own level," said Rowland, "and perhaps he
will not overtop us."
"For ten minutes, at least," Roderick rejoined, "he will have been a
great man!" At this moment the figure sank beneath the horizon line
and became invisible in the uncertain light. Suddenly Roderick said, "I
would like to see her once more--simply to look at her."
"I would not advise it," said Rowland.
"It was her beauty that did it!" Roderick went on. "It was all her
beauty; in comparison, the rest was nothing. What befooled me was to
think of it as my property! And I had made it mine--no one else had
studied it as I had, no one else understood it. What does that stick of
a Casamassima know about it at this hour? I should like to see it just
once more; it 's the only thing in the world of which I can say so."
"I would not advise it," Rowland repeated.
"That 's right, dear Rowland," said Roderick; "don't advise! That 's no
use now."
The dusk meanwhile had thickened, and they had not perceived a figure
approaching them across the open space in front of the house. Suddenly
it stepped into the circle of light projected from the door and windows,
and they beheld little Sam Singleton stopping to stare at them.
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