Through this self-denial he reached a better mind concerning his wife.

He determined not to make her suffer needlessly, if the worst came to the worst; she would suffer enough, at the best, and till the worst came he would spare her, and not say anything about the letter he had got.
But when they met, her first glance divined that something had happened, and her first question frustrated his generous intention.

He had to tell her about the letter.

She would not allow that it had any significance, but she wished him to make an end of his anxieties and forestall whatever it might portend by resigning his place at once.

She said she was quite ready to go to New York; she had been thinking it all over, and now she really wanted to go.