Most certainly he was now led to think of the question from very different standpoints. He allowed his thoughts to wander to the girl herself. He thought of her quite apart from all womankind. He had never met any young woman who seemed to possess all the charms which endear a woman to a man. She was bright as a young woman should be, she was thoughtful for the needs of all who were about her, she had shown herself ready to submit to the guidance of one who was older and more experienced than herself. He could not forget how she had promised him never again to enter the playhouse which had so fascinated her. Oh, she was the most gracious creature that lived--the sweetest, the tenderest, and surely she must prove the most devoted! So his imagination carried him away; and then suddenly he found himself face to face with that phrase of Mr. Hartwell's “_Absurdity could go no further_.” And then, of course, he began to repeat all the questions which he had put to himself when he had started on his investigations into the matter. Once more he said: “_Where lies the source of all absurdities?_” And equally as a matter of course he was once again led in the direction that his thoughts had taken before until he found himself enquiring if the world held another so sweet and gracious and sympathetic. It was not until he was led once more to his starting-point that he began to feel as he had never done before for those of his fellow-men who allowed themselves to be carried away by dwelling on the simplest of the questions which engrossed him. “'Tis a repetition of yesterday morning,” said he. “We set out pleasantly enough in the mist, and after an hour's profitless wandering we found ourselves at the point whence we had started--ay, and the young woman was waiting for us there in person.” Was that morning's wandering to be typical of his life? he wondered. Was he to be ever straying along a misty coast, and evermore to be finding himself at the point whence he had started, with Nelly Polwhele waiting for him there? An absurdity, was it? Well, perhaps--but, after all, should he not be doing well in asking Mr. Hartwell what had been in his mind when he had made use of that phrase? Mr. Hartwell had undoubtedly something in his mind, and he was a level-headed man who had accustomed himself to look at matters without prejudice and to pronounce an opinion based on his common sense. It might be that he could see some grave reason why he, Wesley, should dismiss that young woman forever from his thoughts--forever from his heart. But, of course, he reserved to himself the right to consider all that Mr. Hartwell might say on this matter, and--if he thought it right--to exercise his privilege of veto in regard to his conclusions. He was not prepared to accept the judgment of Mr. Hartwell without reserve.