I do not think, by the way, that a very learned and distinguished philosopher was so very much out in his reckoning after all, when he laid down the general dogma, that all men are more or less mad.

I know, at all events, that I felt mad enough at this moment, as I was careering along the Prebend's Walk.

I was almost nerved up to desperation.
I was an only child; and my parents being both elderly people, rarely mixing in society, I could not make use of home influence, as I might have done if I had had any kind sister to assist me in the way that kind sisters sometimes can assist their brothers when they fall victims to the tender passion.

Whom should I ask to help me in my strait?
I could not go round everywhere, asking everybody after two ladies dressed in half-mourning, could I?
Not exactly.

People might take me for a maniac at large; and, even should I be one, still, I would naturally wish to keep my mental derangement to myself.