d if any false
impression had been made on Hetta's mind, either by circumstances or
by untrue words, had not Montague deserved any evil that might fall
upon him? Though every word in Montague's letter might be true,
nevertheless, in the end, no more than justice would be done him,
even should he be robbed at last of his mistress under erroneous
impressions. The fact that he had once disgraced himself by offering
to make Mrs Hurtle his wife, rendered him unworthy of Hetta Carbury.
Such, at least, was Roger Carbury's verdict as he thought over all
the circumstances. At any rate, it was no business of his to correct
these wrong impressions.

And yet he was ill at ease as he thought of it all. He did believe
that every word in Montague's letter was true. Though he had been very
indignant when he met Roger and Mrs Hurtle together on the sands at
Lowestoft, he was perfectly convinced that the cause of their coming
there had been precisely that which Montague had stated. It took him
two days to think over all this, two days of great discomfort and
unhappiness. After all, why should he be a dog in the manger? The girl
did not care for him,--looked upon him as an old man to be regarded
in a fashion altogether different from that in which she regarded
Paul Montague. He had let his time for love-making go by, and now it
behoved him, as a man, to take the world as he found it, and not to
lose himself in regrets for a kind of happiness which he could never
attain. In such an emergency as this he should do what was fair and
honest, without reference to his own feelings. And yet the passion
which dominated John Crumb altogether, which made the mealman so
intent on the attainment of his object as to render all other things
indifferent to him for the time, was equally strong with Roger
Carbury. Unfortunately for Roger, strong as his passion was, it was
embarrassed by other feelings. It never occurred to Crumb to think
whether he was a fit husband for Ruby, or whether Ruby, having a
decided preference for another man, could be a fit wife for him. But
with Roger there were a thousand surrounding difficulties to hamper
him. John Crumb never doubted for a moment what he should do. He had
to get the girl, if possible, and he meant to get her whatever she
might cost him. He was always confident though sometimes perplexed.
But Roger had no confidence. He knew that he should never win the
game. In his sadder moments he felt that he ought not t