The temptation may be great, but the per contra list is so very alarming, and we never know even then if we see all the liabilities.

Such are the black thoughts that move in the breasts of selfish men, to the great disadvantage of the marriage market; and however it may lower John Niel in the eyes of those who take the trouble to follow this portion of his life's history, in the interests of truth it must be confessed that he was not free from them.
In short, sweet and pretty as Bessie might be, he was not violently in love with her; and at thirty-four a man must be violently in love to rush into the near risk of matrimony.

But, however commendably cautious that man may be, he is always liable to fall into temptation sufficiently strong to sweep away his caution and make a mockery of his plans.

However strong the rope, it has its breaking strain; and in the same way our power of resistance to any given course depends entirely upon the power of the temptation to draw us into it.

Thus it was destined to be with our friend John Niel.
It was about a week after his conversation with old Silas Croft that it occurred to John that Bessie's manner had grown rather strange of late.
It seemed to him that she had avoided his society instead of showing a certain partiality for it, if not of courting it.