I cannot pretend that I found any repartee.

The second incident was at Bristol, where I lost sight of my gentleman some hours.  From this eclipse, he returned to me with thick speech, wandering footsteps, and a back all whitened with plaster.  I had half expected, yet I could have wept to see it.  All disabilities were piled on that weak back—­domestic misfortune, nervous disease, a displeasing exterior, empty pockets, and the slavery of vice.

I will never deny that our prolonged conjunction was the result of double cowardice.  Each was afraid to leave the other, each was afraid to speak, or knew not what to say.  Save for my ill-judged allusion at Gloucester, the subject uppermost in both our minds was buried.  Carthew, Stallbridge-le-Carthew, Stallbridge-Minster—­which we had long since (and severally) identified to be the nearest station—­even the name of Dorsetshire was studiously avoided.  And yet we were making progress all the time, tacking across broad England like an unweatherly vessel on a wind; approaching our destination, not openly, but by a sort of flying sap.  And at length, I can scarce tell how, we were set down by a dilatory butt-end of local train on the untenanted platform of Stallbridge-Minster.

The town was ancient and compact:  a domino of tiled houses and walled gardens, dwarfed by the disproportionate bigness of the church.  From the midst of the thoroughfare which divided it in half, fields and trees were visible at either end; and through the sally-port of every street, there flowed in from the country a silent invasion of green grass.  Bees and birds appeared to make the majority of the inhabitants; every garden had its row of hives, the eaves of every house were plastered with the nests of swallows, and the pinnacles of the church were flickered about all day long by a multitude of wings.  The town was of Roman foundation; and as I looked out that afternoon from the low windows of the inn, I should scarce have been surprised to see a centurion coming up the street with a fatigue draft of legionaries.  In short, Stallbridge-Minster was one of those towns which appear to be maintained by England for the instruction and delight of the American rambler; to which he seems guided by an instinct not less surprising than the setter’s; and which he visits and quits with equal enthusiasm.

I was not at all in the humour of the tourist.  I had wasted weeks of time and accomplished nothing; we were on the eve of the engagement, and I had neither plans nor allies.  I had thrust myself into the trade of private providence and amateur detective; I was spending money and I was reaping disgrace.  All the time, I kept telling myself that I must at least speak; that this ignominious silence should have been broken long ago, and must be broken now.  I should have broken it when he first proposed to come to Stallbridge-Minster; I should have broken it in the train; I should break it there and then, on the inn doorstep, as the omnibus rolled off.  I turned toward him at the thought; he seemed to wince, the words died on my lips, and I proposed instead that we should visit the Minster.