CHAPTER VIII.
Stafford in Retreat, and Sir Roderick in Action.
When Stafford got into the train on his headlong flight from Millstead Manor, he had no settled idea of his destination, and he arrived in London without having made much progress toward a resolution.

Not knowing what he wanted, he could not decide where he was most likely to find it.

Did he want to forget or to think; to repent or to resolve?
This is the alternative that presents itself to a mind puzzled to know whether its doubt is a concession to sin or a homage to reason.

Stafford had been bred in a school widely different from that which treats all questions as open, and all to be referred to the verdict of the balance of expediency.

Among other lessons, he had been taught a deep distrust of the instrument by which he was forced to guide his actions.