What was this wild dream he had been harbouring?
Like a chill wind, reality smote him in the face; he turned away, saying to himself that he was cured of folly.
On the journey home he shaped a project.

He would seek an interview with the head of the City house in which he had spent so much time and worked so conscientiously, a quite approachable man as he knew from experience, and would ask if he might be allowed to re-enter their service not, however, in London, but in their place of business at Odessa.

He had made a good beginning with Russian, and living in Russia, might hope soon to master the language.

If necessary, he would support himself at Odessa for a time, until he was capable of serving the firm in some position of trust.

Yes, this was what he would do; it gave him a new hope.