And then I met Lady Grace Lawrence, and liked her.

I had reason to believe she could be disinterested.

She came of good people--all Lawrences are good; she was simple and unspoiled, and she seemed to like me.

When I look back I believe that I had decided to ask her to marry me, and that it was only by the merest chance that I left London without speaking to her.

What prevented me I hardly know, unless it was a reluctance at the last moment to cast the die.