I did not wish to marry Mr.Mafferton, even for literary purposes, and Peter Corke's suggestion, that I should cast myself overboard in mid-ocean at the mere idea of living anywhere out of England for the future, was autobiographically impossible even if I had felt so inclined.

So I committed the indiscretion.

In order that the world might be assured that my heroine married and lived happily ever afterwards, I took it prematurely into my confidence regarding my intention.

The thing that occurred, as naturally and inevitably as the rain if you leave your umbrella at home, was that within a fortnight after my return to Chicago my engagement to Mr.Page terminated; and the even more painful consequence is that I feel obliged on that account to refer to it again.
Even an American man has his lapses into unreasonableness.

Arthur especially encouraged the idea of my going to England on the ground that it would be so formative.