And during the fortnight that followed he went about making believe to weigh this matter, to view it from every coign; for it did not suit him, even in secret, to confess to the vehemence with which, when he much desired a thing, his temperament knocked flat the hurdles of reason.

The truth was, his mind was made up--and had been, all along.

At the earliest possible opportunity, he was going to ask Polly to be his wife.
Doubts beset him of course.

How could he suppose that a girl who knew nothing of him, who had barely seen him, would either want or consent to marry him?
And even if--for "if's" were cheap--she did say yes, would it be fair of him to take her out of a comfortable home, away from friends--such as they were!--of her own sex, to land her in these crude surroundings, where he did not know a decent woman to bear her company?
Yet there was something to be said for him, too.

He was very lonely.