He or they might be victims before they met, and might see each other's face no more upon earth.
Yet he did not oppose the boys' plan.

He knew how bad for them was this shut-up life, and how the very sense of fret and compulsory inactivity might predispose them to the contagion.

If they could once get beyond the limits of the city, they might be far safer than they could be here.

It would be a relief to have them gone--to think of them as living in safety in the fresh air of the country.
Moreover, it pleased him to think of sending a message of loving assurance to his favourite sister, who dwelt in the open country beyond the hamlet of Islington.

He felt assured that if she still lived she would have a warm welcome for his boys; and if the lads were well provided with money and wholesome food, they had wits enough to take care of themselves for a while, until they had found some asylum.