I've put my hand to the plough and I am not going to turn back.

I should be a cur if I did, and what's more, whatever he might say he'd think none the better of me.

So please don't try to persuade me, it would be no good." For quite a while afterwards young Somers seemed to be comparatively depressed, a state of mind that in his case was rare indeed.

At last, he studied the wintry landscape through the carriage window and said nothing.

By degrees, however, he recovered, and when we reached Dartmouth was as cheerful as ever, a mood that I could not altogether share.
Before we sailed I wrote to Sir Alexander telling him exactly how things stood, and so I think did his son, though he never showed me the letter.
At Durban, just as we were about to start up country, I received an answer from him, sent by some boat that followed us very closely.