“All what? I don't see your puzzle.”
“Why, all sorts of things that are in a fellow's mind—what he thinks about the first thing in the morning, for instance.”
“Pretty much like the rest of us, I take it; by looking at home. You don't suppose university preachers are unlike you and me.”
“Well, I don't know. Now do you think he ever had anything on his mind that was always coming up and plaguing him, and which he never told to anybody?”
“Yes, I should think so; most of us must have had.”
“Have you?”
“Ay, often and often.”
“And you think his remedy the right one?”
“The only one. Make a clean breast of it and the sting is gone. There's a great deal to be done afterwards, of course; but there can be no question about step No. 1.”
“Did you ever owe a hundred pounds that you couldn't pay?” said Tom, with a sudden effort; and his secret had hardly passed his lips before he felt a relief which surprised himself.