What countless follies laid waste my waking and sleeping thoughts after that evening! I wished to wipe out the tedious days between. On Saturday morning I reminded my uncle that I wished to go to the bazaar in the evening. He answered me shortly. I had to endure the gossip of the tea-table. The meal was prolonged beyond an hour, and still my uncle did not come. When at last he came home, I could tell that he had been drinking. I had to ask him twice before he gave me the money, for he had forgotten. When I left the house the streets were thronged with buyers and bright with gas. I took my seat in a third-class carriage of a bare train. After an unbearable delay the train moved out of the station slowly. Fearing that the bazaar would be closed, I passed in quickly through a turnstile. I found myself in a great hall girded at half its height by a gallery. Nearly all the stalls were closed, and the greater part of the hall was in darkness. I recognised a silence like that which fills a church after a service. At the door of one stall a young lady was talking and laughing with two young gentlemen. I listened to their trivial words. "O, I never said such a thing!" "O, but you did!" "O, but I didn't!" The young lady glanced at me, and then went on with her talk. Lingering before the stall, I knew my stay was useless. Slowly I let the two pennies fall against the sixpence in my pocket. The upper part of the hall was now completely dark. Gazing up into the darkness, I saw myself as a creature driven and mocked by vanity; and my eyes burned with anguish and anger.