He determined, upon reflection, to speak in high terms of him to Wilton, especially to Mark or Flora if he had the chance, and to congratulate Hal himself if he happened to meet with him, though it cost him an apology for his former insolence. He resolved, and wisely, to be governed in all he did by the form circumstances might take, and, without attempting to control them, to guide them into the direction he wished them to pursue. Above all, with grating teeth, he resolved to be effectually rid of his rival; not by the vulgar means of knife or poison--there were other ways of destroying him than that. He hoped to slay his moral character, and that he decided should be his first move when the right moment came to set it in motion. Old Wilton had to attend at the Town Hall of a neighbouring borough to appear against Mr. Chewkle, and to give his evidence before the magistrates respecting the murderous attack he had made upon him. He was aware that he should have to meet there Mr. Henry Vivian. To expatiate upon his timely interposition in his favour, to laud him for his pursuit of Colonel Mires, and the rescue of his daughter. He felt as he meditated on this that he ought to be grateful to him, and to display it; but then the exhibition of a generous warmth on his part might raise hopes he was most anxious to repress. So he was bewildered as to the part he ought to play. Then, too, he was feverish and petulant; he missed Lotte’s gentle attentions. Ah! in truth he sorely missed her. From the moment she had quitted him nothing seemed to have gone right. He missed her every-ready offices, always performed so exactly as he wished them to be; he missed her soft voice, which had such power to soothe and allay his peevish fretfulness; and he missed her gentle smile, which had never failed to gladden his heart, and dispose it to a generous sympathy with the world and all whom it contained. Never since her absence had he missed her so much as on the morning he had to face the fatigue of giving his evidence on the examination of Chewkle. He was so sure he should have been prepared to undergo the exertion by her admirable arrangements, and he was so convinced that she would, by her presence, have sustained him throughout his meeting with Vivian. But he had to do it all without her; for very obvious reasons he declined Flora’s offer to accompany him. He felt assured there was no advantage to be derived from giving her the opportunity of seeing young Vivian, if she did not speak to him--she had, in fact, seen him too often as it was. So, accompanied by his son Mark and Lester Vane, he went to the Town Hall. But ere he departed from his library he formed a design respecting Lotte--one he purposed keeping to himself until he could put it into execution. He made a firm resolve to be no more placed in the predicament in which he felt himself to be that morning.