was bound ...
bound ... and by just those silken threads which, in premarital days,
had seemed sheerly desirable. He wondered now what it would be like to
stand free as the wind, answerable only to himself. The bare thought of
it filled him as with the rushing of wings.

Once he had been within an ace of cutting and running. That was in the
early days, soon after his marriage. Trade had petered out; and there
would have been as little to leave behind as to carry with him. But,
even so, circumstances had proved too strong for him: what with Mary's
persuasions and John's intermeddling, his scheme had come to nothing.
And if, with so much in his favour, he had not managed to carry it out,
how in all the world could he hope to now, when every thing conspired
against him. It was, besides, excusable in youth to challenge fortune;
a very different matter for one of his age.

Of his age! ... the words gave him pause. By their light he saw why he
had knuckled under so meekly, at the time of his first attempt. It was
because then a few years one way or another did not signify; he had
them to spare. Now, each individual year was precious to him; he parted
with it lingeringly, unwillingly. Time had taken to flashing past, too;
Christmas was hardly celebrated before it was again at the door.
Another ten years or so and he would be an old man, and it would in
very truth be too late. The tempter voice--in this case also the voice
of reason--said: now or never!

But when he came to look the facts in the face his heart failed him
anew, so heavily did the arguments against his taking such a step--and,
true to his race, it was these he began by marshalling--weigh down the
scales. He should have done it, if done it was to be, five ... three
... even a couple of years ago. Each day that dawned added to the
tangle, made the idea seem more preposterous. Local dignities had been
showered on him: he sat on the Committees of the District Hospital and
the Benevolent Asylum; was Honorary Medical Officer to this Society and
that; a trustee of the church; one of the original founders of the
Mechanics' Institute; vice-president of the Botanical Society; and so
on, AD INFINITUM. His practice was second to none; his visiting-book
rarely shewed a blank space; people drove in from miles round to
consult him. In addition, he had an extremely popular wife, a good
house and garden, horses and traps, and a sure yearly income of some
twelve or thirteen hun