His joy, when I told him, was boundless.
"How good women are," he said, while the tears came into his eyes.

"But she shall not repent it.

Please God, from this day forth, I'll--" He stopped, and for the first time in his life the doubt of himself crossed his mind.

As I sat watching him, the joy died out of his face, and the first hint of age passed over it.
"I seem to have been 'tidying up and starting afresh' all my life," he said wearily; "I'm beginning to see where the untidiness lies, and the only way to get rid of it." I did not understand the meaning of his words at the time, but learnt it later on.
He strove, according to his strength, and fell.

But by a miracle his transgression was not discovered.