He had acted on impulse, a very curious impulse, and there was an end of it perhaps; it might be because his uncle had told him as a boy that the thing was unique, or perhaps because old Jeekie, his negro servant, venerated it so much and swore that it was "lucky." At any rate he had declined and there was an end.
But another and a graver matter remained.

He had desired wealth to save Yarleys, but he desired it still more for a different purpose.

Above everything on earth he loved Barbara, his distant cousin and the niece of Mr.Champers-Haswell, who until an hour ago had been his partner.
Now she was a great heiress, and without fortune he could not marry her, even if she would marry him, which remained in doubt.

For one thing her uncle and guardian Haswell, under her father's will, had absolute discretion in this matter until she reached the age of twenty-five, and for another he was too proud.

Therefore it would seem that in abandoning his business, he had abandoned his chance of Barbara also, which was a truly dreadful thought.
Well, it was in order that he might see her, that he had agreed to visit The Court on the morrow, even though it meant a meeting with his late partners, who were the last people with whom he desired to foregather again so soon.