But when the train was fairly in motion, when the conductor had made his progress through the cars, when everybody had got their tickets, and there was no more to be done, all subsided gradually into a dull sleepy quiet, broken occasionally by a child's cry, but still undisturbed enough to let those passengers who did not care to sleep, think in peace.
Maurice thought, uselessly, but persistently.

He thought of the past, when he had been quite happy, looking forward to a laborious life with Lucia to brighten it.

He thought of the future which must now have one of two aspects--either cold, matter-of-fact and solitary, in the great empty house at Hunsdon without Lucia, or bright and perfect beyond even his former dreams, in that same great old house with her.

He meant to win her, however, sooner or later, and the real trouble which he feared at present was nothing worse than delay..