He had found it a hard struggle to keep away for those ten days.

And how was he going to do it for all those weeks to come?
He had always had so much to say to her--or, at least, there had always been things he wanted to say, for in his most intimate moments he was naturally rather silent.
For a second his thoughts escaped his control, and settled on the pleasantness that bare ugly work-a-day room had meant to him all the winter through.

The sodden winter streets, swept by bitter winds, horrible in fog and snow, through which he had hurried on his way had had something heavenly about them.

"Ah, le beau temps passe!" He pulled himself together with a sharp shock of reproach.

He was to marry Nelly in less than three months' time, and he was an honourable man.