Anyhow he would push on there now that he was so near, and not ask questions here where he was liable to be wrongly informed.

The fundamental inquiry he had not ventured to make--whether Christine had married before the family went away.

He had abstained because of an absurd dread of extinguishing hopeful surmise.

That the Everards had left their old home was bad enough intelligence for one day.
Rising from the table he put on his hat and went out, ascending towards the upland which divided this district from his native vale.

The first familiar feature that met his eye was a little spot on the distant sky--a clump of trees standing on a barrow which surmounted a yet more remote upland--a point where, in his childhood, he had believed people could stand and see America.