hence, he shall read in the newspapers that Philip Derval is married. But
for Richard Strahan at least, though I never saw him, I must do something
before the newspapers make that announcement. His sister was very dear to
me."

"Your neighbours, Sir Philip, will rejoice at your marriage, since, I
presume, it may induce you to settle amongst them at Derval Court."

"At Derval Court! No! I shall not settle there." Again he paused a
moment or so, and then went on: "I have long lived a wandering life, and
in it learned much that the wisdom of cities cannot teach. I return to my
native land with a profound conviction that the happiest life is the life
most in common with all. I have gone out of my way to do what I deemed
good, and to avert or mitigate what appeared to me evil. I pause now and
ask myself, whether the most virtuous existence be not that in which
virtue flows spontaneously from the springs of quiet everyday action; when
a man does good without restlessly seeking it, does good unconsciously,
simply because he is good and he lives. Better, perhaps, for me, if I had
thought so long ago! And now I come back to England with the intention of
marrying, late in life though it be, and with such hopes of happiness as
any matter-of-fact man may form. But my hope will not be at Derval
Court. I shall reside either in London or its immediate neighbourhood,
and seek to gather round me minds by which I can correct, if I cannot
confide to them, the knowledge I myself have acquired."

"Nay, if, as I have accidentally heard, you are fond of scientific
pursuits, I cannot wonder, that after so long an absence from England, you
should feel interest in learning what new discoveries have been made, what
new ideas are unfolding the germs of discoveries yet to be. But, pardon
me, if in answer to your concluding remark, I venture to say that no man