But what then?
Who would look at the dirt on his gaiters, if he filled his bag with game?
Mrs.Woodward was no whit angered by the coldness of Norman's letter.

She wished that he could have brought himself to write in a different style, but she remembered his grief, and knew that as time should work its cure upon it, he would come round and again be gentle and affectionate, at any rate with her.
She misdoubted Charley's judgement in the choice of lodgings, and therefore she talked over the matter with Alaric.

It was at last decided that he, Alaric, should move instead of driving Norman away.

His final movement would soon take place; that movement which would rob him of the freedom of lodginghood, and invest him with all the ponderous responsibility and close restraint of a householder.

He and Gertrude were to be married in February, and after spending a cold honeymoon in Paris and Brussels, were to begin their married life amidst the sharp winds of a London March.