The decision was coming nearer, the alternatives loomed up dark and inevitable.

On one side was submission to ignominy, on the other a return to that place which he detested, and yet loathed himself for detesting.

"It seems I'm not likely to have much peace either way," he reflected dismally.
How the conflict would have ended had it continued on these lines I cannot say.

The soul of Mr.McCunn was being assailed by moral and metaphysical adversaries with which he had not been trained to deal.
But suddenly it leapt from negatives to positives.

He saw the face of the girl in the shuttered House, so fair and young and yet so haggard.
It seemed to be appealing to him to rescue it from a great loneliness and fear.