Surely his virtue in restoring his wife to life had been rewarded! But, as if the impulse struck uneasily on his conscience, he quickly rose, brushed the dust from his trousers and set himself to think of his next movements.

He could not start for London for some hours; and as he had no preparations to make that could not be made in half-an-hour, he mechanically descended and resumed his occupation of turning over the wall-papers.

They had all got brighter for him, those papers.

It was all changed--who would sit in the rooms that they were to line?
He went on to muse upon Lucy's conduct in so frequently coming to the house with the children; her occasional blush in speaking to him; her evident interest in him.

What woman can in the long run avoid being interested in a man whom she knows to be devoted to her?
If human solicitation could ever effect anything, there should be no going to India for Lucy now.