As a lodger he was content to dwell here; but sometimes by a freak of imagination he pictured himself a married man, imprisoned with wife and children amid these leagues of dreary, inhospitable brickwork, and a great horror fell upon him.
No.

In his time he had run through follies innumerable, but from the supreme folly of hampering himself by marriage, a merciful fate had guarded him.

It was probably the most remarkable fact of his life; it heightened his self-esteem, and appeared to warrant him in the assurance that a destiny so protective would round the close of his days with tranquillity and content.
Upon this thought he lay down to rest.

For half an hour Basil Morton's letter had occupied his mind: he had tried to think out the problem it set forth, not to leave his friend quite unanswered; but weariness prevailed, and with it the old mood of self-congratulation.
Next morning the weather was fine; that is to say, one could read without artificial light, and no rain fell, and far above the house-tops appeared a bluish glimmer, shot now and then with pale yellowness.

Harvey decided to carry out his intention of calling upon Mrs.Abbott.She lived at Kilburn, and thither he drove shortly before twelve o'clock.