marvelous land.

Then, in the middle of a narrative, which enchained both his hearers,
he suddenly looked at his watch, and putting on a fictitious look of
dismay and annoyance, started up with many excuses and went home--not,
however, till Susan had made him promise to come again next
market-day.

As he rode home in the moonlight Susan's face seemed still before him.
The bright look of interest she had given him, the grateful smiles
with which she had thanked him for his narration--all this had been so
sweet at the moment, so bitter upon the least reflection. His mind was
in a whirl. At last he grasped at one idea, and held it as with a
vise.

"I shall be always welcome to her if I can bring myself to talk about
that detestable country. Well, I will grind my tongue down to it. She
shall not be able to do without my chat; that shall be the beginning;
the middle shall be different; the end shall be just the opposite. The
sea is between him and her. I am here with opportunity, resolution and
money. I _will_ have her!"

The next morning his mother said to him:

"John, do you think to go to-day?"

"Where, mother?"

"The journey you spoke of."