He went up to town, and I do not know that those vacant hours served
him much. To a man not accustomed to thinking there is nothing in the
world so difficult as to think. After some loose fashion we turn over
things in our mind and ultimately reach some decision, guided probably
by our feelings at the last moment rather than by any process of
ratiocination;--and then we think that we have thought. But to follow
out one argument to an end, and then to found on the base so reached
the commencement of another, is not common to us. Such a process was
hardly within the compass of Roger's mind,--who when he was made
wretched by the dust, and by a female who had a basket of
objectionable provisions opposite to him, almost forswore his
charitable resolutions of the day before; but who again, as he walked
lonely at night round the square which was near to his hotel, looking
up at the bright moon with a full appreciation of the beauty of the
heavens, asked himself what was he that he should wish to interfere
with the happiness of two human beings much younger than himself and
much fitter to enjoy the world. But he had had a bath, and had got rid
of the dust, and had eaten his dinner.

The next morning he was in Welbeck Street at an early hour. When he
knocked he had not made up his mind whether he would ask for Lady
Carbury or her daughter, and did at last inquire whether 'the ladies'
were at home. The ladies were reported as being at home, and he was at
once shown into the drawing-room, where Hetta was sitting. She hurried
up to him, and he at once took her in his arms and kissed her. He had
never done such a thing before. He had never even kissed her hand.
Though they were cousins and dear friends, he had never treated her
after that fashion. Her instinct told her immediately that such a
greeting from him was a sign of affectionate compliance with her
wishes. That this man should kiss her as her best and dearest
relation, as her most trusted friend, as almost her brother, was
certainly to her no offence. She could cling to him in fondest love,--
if he would only consent not to be her lover. 'Oh, Roger, I am so glad
to see you,' she said, escaping gently from his arms.

'I could not write an answer, and so I came.'

'You always do the kindest thing that can be done.'

'I don't know. I don't know that I can do anything now,--kind or
unkind. It is all done without any aid from me. Hetta, you have been
all the world to me.'