The people did not forget that he was Mrs.Ward's friend, and they made no doubt, the bolder ones said, that Lawyer Woodhouse was an infidel, too.

So he decided to take an office in Mercer.
This would make it possible for him to come back to Ashurst every Saturday, and be with his aunts until Monday.
Perhaps he did not know it, but Lockhaven shadows seemed deeper than they really were because Mercer was only twelve miles from Lois Howe.
Not that that could mean anything more than just the pleasure of seeing her sometimes.

Gifford told himself he had no hope.

He searched her occasional letters in vain for the faintest hint that she would be glad to see him.

"If there were the slightest chance of it," he said, with a sigh, "of course I'd know it.