His own behaviour had been cowardly selfishness.

Oh yes, she had loved him, had been eager to believe in him.

But there was always that voice of warning in his mind; he foresaw--he knew-- And if he killed himself?
Not here; no lurid horrors for that poor girl and her relatives; but somewhere at a distance, under circumstances which would render the recovery of his body difficult, yet would leave no doubt of his death.

Would that, again, be cowardly?
The opposite, when once it was certain that to live meant poverty and wretchedness.
Amy's grief, however sincere, would be but a short trial compared with what else might lie before her.

The burden of supporting her and Willie would be a very slight one if she went to live in her mother's house.
He considered the whole matter night after night, until perchance it happened that sleep had pity upon him for an hour before the time of rising.
Autumn was passing into winter.