Well, there was nothing more to be done. He might, it is true, have
seen Ida, and working upon her love and natural inclinations have
tried to persuade her to cut the knot by marrying him off-hand.
Perhaps he would have succeeded, for in these affairs women are apt to
find the arguments advanced by their lovers weighty and well worthy of
consideration. But he was not the man to adopt such a course. He did
the only thing he could do--answered her letter by saying that what
must be must be. He had learnt that on the day subsequent to his
interview with his rival the Squire had written to Edward Cossey
informing him that a decided answer would be given to him on Christmas
Day, and that thereon all vexatious proceedings on the part of that
gentleman's lawyers had been stayed for the time. He could now no
longer doubt what the answer would be. There was only one way out of
the trouble, the way which Ida had made up her mind to adopt.
So he set to work to make his preparations for leaving Honham and this
country for good and all. He wrote to land agents and put Molehill
upon their books to be sold or let on lease, and also to various
influential friends to obtain introductions to the leading men in New
Zealand. But these matters did not take up all his time, and the rest
of it hung heavily on his hands.
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