Morning came, and found me still puzzling, still without any loophole through which to squeeze to the help of my beloved country.
I say "beloved," for now that I was on the borders, only a few yards into Rudarlia, I felt surge over me an almost mad exultation, a thrill of passionate feeling, quite foreign to my nature; I felt that that day had marked a change in my life.
Any help that I could give must be a matter of time and the deepest consideration; I would see what Mr. Neville and my parents said--and Mr. Smith too. I had forgotten him, had, I am ashamed to say, forgotten the oldest of my friends, and one who would doubtless be overjoyed to hear that I was in Rudarlia.
He would help me, perhaps, in any way that he thought good.
Well, it would wait with many things until my majority.
While dressing I thought of my stepfather; what would he think, as an American, would he advise a republic?
And then his advice flashed across me: "Spend money when you think good will come of it."
I had never followed his advice to any large extent, a hundred pounds or so at a time.
"I wonder," I said aloud, "whether this is an opportunity?"
It was a fresh idea, and I dawdled over my toilet, so as to have more time for consideration.