At this moment there came a knock at the door, and Miss Arbour's sister
came in. After a few words of greeting I took my leave and walked
home. I was confounded. Who could have dreamed that such tragic
depths lay behind that serene face, and that her orderly precision was
like the grass and flowers upon volcanic soil with Vesuvian fires
slumbering below? I had been altogether at fault, and I was taught,
what I have since been taught, over and over again, that unknown
abysses, into which the sun never shines, lie covered with commonplace
in men and women, and are revealed only by the rarest opportunity.

But my thoughts turned almost immediately to myself, and I could bring
myself to no resolve. I was weak and tired, and the more I thought the
less capable was I of coming to any decision. In the morning, after a
restless night, I was in still greater straits, and being perfectly
unable to do anything, I fled to my usual refuge, the sea. The whole
day I swayed to and fro, without the smallest power to arbitrate
between the contradictory impulses which drew me in opposite
directions.

I knew what I ought to do, but Ellen's image was ever before me, mutely
appealing against her wrongs, and I pictured her deserted and with her
life spoiled. I said to myself that instinct is all very well, but for
what purpose is reason given to us if not to reason with it; and
reasoning in the main is a correction of what is called instinct, and
of hasty first impressions. I knew many cases in which men and women
loved one another without similarity of opinions, and, after all,
similarity of opinions upon theological criticism is a poor bond of
union. But then, no sooner was this pleaded than the other side of the
question was propounded with all its distinctness, as Miss Arbour had
presented it.