 the connection; though he was sorry, too, for the excellent people
(in their way the best he had ever met), and deplored the necessity of breaking
mere house-flies on the wheel. He protested before long, and far more truly than
I then supposed, that he was not worth acceptance by a woman of such endowments,
and such power of character; but - well, well! -
    Your dear friend amused me and amused himself as long as it suited his
inclinations; and then reminded me that we were both people of the world, that
we both understood mankind, that we both knew there was no such thing as
romance, that we were both prepared for going different ways to seek our
fortunes like people of sense, and that we both foresaw that whenever we
encountered one another again we should meet as the best friends on earth. So he
said, and I did not contradict him.
    It was not very long before I found that he was courting his present wife,
and that she had been taken away to be out of his reach. I hated her then, quite
as much as I hate her now; and naturally, therefore, could desire nothing better
than that she should marry him. But, I was restlessly curious to look at her -
so curious that I felt it to be one of the few sources of entertainment left to
me. I travelled a little: travelled until I found myself in her society, and in
yours. Your dear friend, I think, was not known to you then, and had not given
you any of those signal marks of his friendship which he has bestowed upon you.
    In that company I found a girl, in various circumstances of whose position
there was a singular likeness to my own, and in whose character I was interested
and pleased to see much of the rising against swollen patronage and selfishness,
calling themselves kindness, protection, benevolence, and other fine names,
which I have described as inherent in my nature. I often heard it said, too,
that she had »an unhappy temper.« Well understanding what was meant by the
convenient phrase, and wanting a companion with a knowledge of what I knew, I
thought I would try to release the girl from her bondage and sense of injustice.
I have no occasion to relate that I succeeded.
    We have been together ever since, sharing my small means.
 

                                  Chapter XXII

                        Who Passes by This Road so Late?

Arthur Clennam had made his unavailing expedition to Calais, in the midst of a
great pressure of business. A certain barbaric Power with
