Part 3, Chapter XVI.
After Four Years.
Four years in the life of a busy man soon glide away, and after that lapse there were certain little matters in connection with his late father’s property, that Luke seized upon as an excuse for going down to Lawford once again.
He had one primary object for going, one that he had nursed now for these four years, and had dwelt upon in the intervals of his busy toil.
In spite of all bitterness of heart, he had from time to time awakened to the fact that the old love was not dead. There had always been a tiny spark hidden deeply, but waiting for a kindly breath to make it kindle into a vivid flame.
His position |had led him into good society, and he had been frequently introduced to what people who enjoyed such matters termed eligible matches, but it soon became evident to all the matchmakers that the successful barrister, the next man spoken of for silk, was not a marrying man; in short, that he had no heart.
No heart!
Luke Ross knew that he had, and from time to time he would take out his old love, and think over it and wonder.
“Four years since,” he said, one evening, as he sat alone in his solitary chambers. “Why not?”
Then he fell into a fit of self-examination.