is status in regard to Miss March.
He had said to himself that she had threatened to reject him because
she wished to punish him, and he had intended to implore her pardon,
and expected to receive it. Over and over again, had he argued with
himself in this strain, and yet, in spite of it all, he had not been
able to bring himself into a state of mind in which he could sit down
and write to her a letter, which, in his estimation, would be certain
to seal and complete the engagement. "How very glad I am," he now said
to himself, "that I never wrote that letter!" And this was the only
decision at which he had arrived, when he heard Mrs Keswick calling to
him from the yard.

He immediately went to the door, when the old lady informed him, that
as Letty had not come back, and did not appear to be intending to come
back, and that as none of the other servants on the place had made
their appearance, he might as well come into the house, and try to
satisfy his hunger on what cold food she and Mrs Null had managed to
collect.

The most biting and spicy condiments of the little meal, to which the
three sat down, were supplied by Mrs Keswick, who reviled without
stint those utterly thoughtless and heedless colored people, who, once
in the midst of their crazy religious exercises, totally forgot that
they owed any duty whatever to those who employed them. Lawrence and
Annie did not say much, but there was something peculiarly piquant in
the way in which Annie brought and poured out the tea she had made,
and which, with the exception of the old lady's remarks, was the only
warm part of the repast; and there was an element of buoyancy in the
manner of Mr Croft, as he took his cup to drink the tea. Although he
said little at this meal, he thought a great deal, listening not at
all to Mrs Keswick's tirades. "What a charmingly inconsiderate affair
this has been!" he said to himself. "Nothing planned, nothing provided
for, or against; all spontaneous, and from our very hearts. I never
thought to tell her that she must say nothing to her aunt, until we
had agreed how everything should, be explained, and I don't believe
the idea that it is necessary to say anything to anybody, has entered
her mind. But I must keep my eyes away from her if I don't want to
bring on a premature explosion."

Whatever might be the result of the reasoning which this young man
had to do with himself, it was quite plain that he was abundantly
satisfied with th