Indeed, the sudden reminder that Nelly was a comely and personable woman had affected Richard Gurd, and the thought that she should contemplate marriage caused him some preliminary uneasiness.  He could no more see her married again than he could see himself taking a wife; yet from this attitude, progress was swift, and the longer he thought upon Mrs. Northover, the more steadily did his mind drive him into an opinion that she might reasonably wed again if she desired to do so.  And then he proceeded to the personal concession that there was no radical necessity to remain single himself.  Because he had reached his present ripe age without a wife, it did not follow he must remain for ever unmarried.  He had no objection to marriage, and continued a bachelor merely because he had never found any woman desirable in his eyes.  Moreover he disliked children.

He had reached this stage of the argument before he slept, and when he woke again, he found his mind considerably advanced along the road to Nelly.  He now came to the deliberate conclusion that he wanted her.  The discovery amazed him, but he could not escape it; and in the light of such a surprise he became a little dazzled.  Sudden soul movements of such force and complexity made Richard Gurd selfish.  It is a fact, that before he went at the appointed time to see the mistress of ’The Seven Stars,’ he had forgotten all about Job Legg and was entirely concerned with his own tremendous project.  Full grown and complete at all vital points it sprang from his energetic brain.  He had reached the high personal ambition of wanting to marry Mrs. Northover himself, and their friendship of many years had been so complete, that he felt sanguine from the moment that his great determination dawned.

But she spoke and quickly reminded him of what she was expecting.

“And how d’you think about it?  Shall it be, or shan’t it, Richard?”

They were in the private parlour.

“Leave that,” he said.  “I can assure you that little affair is already a thing of the past.  In fact, my mind has moved such a long way since you came to see me yesterday, that I’d forgot what you came about.  But, after all, that was the starting point.  Now a very curious thing has fallen out, and looking back, I can only say that the wonder is it didn’t fall out long years ago.”

“It did, so far as he was concerned,” explained Mrs. Northover.  “Mr. Legg has been hoping for this for years.”

“The Lord often chooses a fool to light the road of the wise, my dear.  Not that Job’s a fool, and a more self-respecting man you won’t find.  In fact I shall always feel kindly to your potman, for, in a manner of speaking, you may say he’s helped to show me my own duty.”

“I dare say he has; he’s a lesson to us all.”

“He is, but, all the same, it’s confounding class with class to think of him as a husband for you.  Not that I’ve got any class prejudice myself.  You can’t keep a hotel year in, year out, and allow yourself the luxury of class prejudice; but be that as it may, Legg, though he adorns his class, wouldn’t adorn ours in my opinion.  And yet I’ll say this:  I believe it was put to him by Providence to offer for you, so that you might be lifted to higher things.”