Now that she had given him her promise to go with him to Austria, there
was only to arrange the day and the hour of their departure. For once
he was alive to the necessity for prompt action. There was her safety
to be considered now. When he had been alone it had not mattered how
anything was done or not done, but now everything was different. The
world itself was another place. He had already actually written and
posted a tentative letter to his father, such a letter as he could
never have written if only his interests had been concerned, but he
found any sacrifice an easy one now, even the sacrifice of pride.
There was no reason why they should not start to-morrow. It would be
safer to get out of the place by going round by the Mediterranean and
thence across by way of Italy.
Water-travelling was cheaper, too. He laughed to himself to think how
practical he was becoming. How strange it would seem to live in a
civilised fashion again, to not be obliged to look at every sou before
it was spent, to have servants to wait upon one; enough to eat and
drink, and the luxury of cleanliness.
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