And he has felt no inclination to go back to England
himself; for, with Mr. Brock dead, Miss Milroy at school, and
Midwinter here, he has not a living creature in whom he is
interested to welcome him if he returned. To see us, and to see
the new yacht, are the only two present objects he has in view.
Midwinter has been expecting him for a week past, and he may walk
into this very room in which I am writing, at this very moment,
for all I know to the contrary.
"Tempting circumstances, these--with all the wrongs I have
suffered at his mother's hands and at his, still alive in my
memory; with Miss Milroy confidently waiting to take her place
at the head of his household; with my dream of living happy and
innocent in Midwinter's love dispelled forever, and with nothing
left in its place to help me against myself. I wish it wasn't
raining; I wish I could go out.
"Perhaps something may happen to prevent Armadale from coming to
Naples? When he last wrote, he was waiting at Gibraltar for an
English steamer in the Mediterranean trade to bring him on here.
He may get tired of waiting before the steamer comes, or he may
hear of a yacht at some other place than this.
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