I had sought it, and yet it had been none of my seeking.

I had graver thoughts to occupy my mind than the punctilios of idle youth, and yet I did not see how the thing could have been shunned.

It was my hard fate to come athwart an obstacle which could not be circumvented, but must be broken.

No friend could help me in the business, not Ringan, nor the Governor, nor Colonel Beverley.

It was my own affair, which I must go through with alone.