No good can come of throwing your heart there.' He went into the mead, sat down, and asked himself four questions: 1.

How could she live near her acquaintance as his wife, even in his absence, without suffering martyrdom from the stings of their contempt?
2.

Would not this entail total estrangement between Christine and her family also, and her own consequent misery?
3.

Must not such isolation extinguish her affection for him?
4.

Supposing that her father rigged them out as colonists and sent them off to America, was not the effect of such exile upon one of her gentle nurture likely to be as the last?
In short, whatever they should embark in together would be cruelty to her, and his death would be a relief.