e lawyer charged
Drood if anything should be amiss or if anything happened between him
and Rosebud, to bring back the ring.

Mr. Grewgious gave him this keepsake with such wise and friendly advice
on the seriousness of marriage that all the way to Cloisterham with the
ring in his pocket, Edwin Drood was very thoughtful. He asked himself
whether he really loved Rosebud as a man should love his wife, whether
he had not drifted into this betrothal rather as a result of their
parents' wish and wills than from any deeper feeling. And he began to
wonder if by marrying her thus he would not be doing her a vast
injustice. He decided, therefore, to tell her all that was in his mind
and be guided by her judgment.

Rosebud, meanwhile, in the silence of the Christmas vacation, with only
Helena for her companion, had been thinking of the same matter, and her
wise little head had reached almost the same conclusion. When Drood came
they walked out together under the trees by the cathedral. Their talk
was not so difficult after all as each had feared it would be, and both
felt relieved when they decided they could be far happier to remain as
brother and sister, and not become husband and wife. So they agreed
without pain on either side.

Drood's only anxiety was for his uncle. He thought Jasper had looked
forward to his marriage to Rosebud so long that he would be pained and
disappointed to learn it was not to be. So he concluded he would not
tell him as yet. Poor Rosebud! She was greatly agitated. She felt the
falseness of Jasper, and knew that he loved her himself, but she
realized the impossibility of telling this to the nephew who believed in
him. So she was silent. Drood, for his part, since the betrothal was
ended, said nothing to her of the ring Grewgious had given to him,
intending to return it to the lawyer.

They kissed each other when they parted. The wicked choir master, who
happened to be walking near, saw the embrace and thought it the kiss of
lovers soon to be wed. Drood left Rosebud then, to pass the time till
the hour of the dinner in Jasper's rooms.

Neville that day had determined, the dinner over, to start at dawn next
morning on a walking tour, to be absent a fortnight. He bought a
knapsack and a heavy steel-shod stick in preparation for this
expedition, and bade his sister Helena and Mr. Crisparkle good-by before
he went to the appointed meeting at the choir master's.

Jasper himself, it was noticed, had ne