They did not tell him exactly when he would go, but that could not be asked.

No one must anticipate a complete unveiling of the future.

It was sufficient that intimations came out of it now and then.
It was this feeling, amounting to a conviction, that bore him up on a shield of steel.

It soothed the natural impatience of his youth and temperament.

Why grieve over not going when he knew that he would go?
Yet, a long time passed and there was no sail upon the sea, though the fact failed to shake his faith.