Should he consult any one?
He knew beforehand what they would all think about it.

Mr.Lanley would think that it was sheer impertinence to want to marry his granddaughter on less than fifteen thousand dollars a year; Mrs.Farron would think that there were lots of equally agreeable young men in the world who would not take a girl to China; and his mother, whom he could not help considering the wisest of the three, would think that Mathilde lacked discipline and strength of will for such an adventure.

And on this he found he made up his mind.

"After all," he said to himself as he put the chair back against the wall, "everything else would be failure, and this may be success." It was the afternoon that Farron was brought back from the hospital, and he and Mathilde were sure of having the drawing-room to themselves.

He told her the situation slowly and with a great deal of detail, chronologically, introducing the Chinese trip at the very end.