The first and only strong passion he
had ever known was mastering him.
But there was yet one more unpleasant aspect to face--that was the
situation regarding Mrs. Cricklander. He had assuredly not committed
himself or even acted very unfairly to her. She had been playing a game
as he had been. He did not flatter himself that she really loved
him--now that he knew what love meant--and her ambition could be
gratified elsewhere; but there remained the fact that he was engaged to
stay with her for Whitsuntide, and whether to do so, and plainly show
her that he had meant nothing and only intended to be a friend, or
whether to throw the visit over, and go to London, returning just to
fetch Halcyone about Wednesday, he could not quite decide.
Which would be the best thing to do? It worried him--but not for long,
because indecision was not, as a rule, one of his characteristics, and
he soon made up his mind to the former course.
He would go to Wendover on Saturday, as was arranged, take pains to
disabuse his hostess's mind of any illusion upon the subject of his
intentions, and, having run over to Bristol this afternoon to give
notice to the registrar and procure the license, he would leave with the
other guests on the Tuesday, after lunch, having sent his servant up to
London in the morning to be out of the way.
Pages:
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223