Since the day on which he had roused himself to the necessity of an active life he had ever called upon himself 'not to let the grass grow under his feet.' And he had taught himself to think that there were few things a man could not achieve if he would only live up to that motto.

Therefore, though he was perplexed by letters from Australia, and though his Aunt Polly was a great nuisance, he determined to persevere at once.

If he allowed himself to revisit Nobble before he had settled this matter with Hester Bolton, would it not be natural that Hester Bolton should be the wife of some other man before he returned?
With all this on his mind he started off one day on horseback to Cambridge.

When he left Folking he had not quite made up his mind whether he would go direct to the bank and ask for old Mr.Bolton, or make a first attempt at that fortified castle at Chesterton.

But on entering the town he put his horse up at an inn just where the road turns off to Chesterton, and proceeded on foot to the house.