and wont to be considered. Ellen had no vice of temper, no meanness,
and it was not improbable that she would be just as good a helpmeet for
me in time as I had a right to ask. Living together, we should mould
one another, and at last like one another. Marrying her, I should be
relieved from the insufferable solitude which was depressing me to
death, and should have a home.

So it has always been with me. When there has been the sternest need
of promptitude, I have seen such multitudes of arguments for and
against every course that I have despaired. I have at my command any
number of maxims, all of them good, but I am powerless to select the
one which ought to be applied.

A general principle, a fine saying, is nothing but a tool, and the wit
of man is shown not in possession of a well-furnished tool-chest, but
in the ability to pick out the proper instrument and use it.

I remained in this miserable condition for days, not venturing to
answer Ellen's letter, until at last I turned out for a walk. I have
often found that motion and change will bring light and resolution when
thinking will not. I started off in the morning down by the river, and
towards the sea, my favourite stroll. I went on and on under a leaden
sky, through the level, solitary, marshy meadows, where the river began
to lose itself in the ocean, and I wandered about there, struggling for
guidance. In my distress I actually knelt down and prayed, but the
heavens remained impassive as before, and I was half ashamed of what I
had done, as if it were a piece of hypocrisy.

At last, wearied out, I turned homeward, and diverging from the direct
road, I was led past the house where the Misses Arbour lived. I was