If I go a step further, and see him on board ship with my own eyes, he'll slip off in the pilot's boat, and sneak back secretly to you.

That's his disposition." "No!" said Magdalen.

"It's not his disposition; it's his love for Me." "Call it what you like," retorted Mr.Clare.

"Sneak or Sweetheart -- he's too slippery, in either capacity, for my fingers to hold him.
My shutting the door won't keep him from coming back.

Your shutting the door will.