"Sidney, I would give up all my chances for one or two true friends. You don't know what a miserable wretch I am!"
"You will be better presently. You have seen too much life lately, and the reaction has rendered you blasé. Patience and wait. As for the wife——"
"Well?"
"Seek out Harriet Wesden again, and do her justice."
"But you——"
"She never loved me, Maurice; you were her first love, and her last. She is leading a life that is unfit for her, and you can make amends for all the shadows you have cast upon it."
"I could never face her."
"Then you are a greater coward than I thought."
"It's odd advice," he muttered; "seek out Harriet Wesden again! Oh! I know how that will end, and what 'good' will result from that. But you wish it?"
"Yes," said Sidney, after a moment's further reflection.