Joe waited on her when she got there, put
her safely into the railway carriage, and handed in the very little
bag after her, as though it were some enormous trunk,
hundredweights heavy, which she must on no account endeavour to
lift.
'Can you go round when you get back, and tell Miss Twinkleton that
you saw me safely off, Joe
'It shall be done, Miss.'
'With my love, please, Joe.'
'Yes, Miss--and I wouldn't mind having it myself!' But Joe did not
articulate the last clause; only thought it.
Now that she was whirling away for London in real earnest, Rosa was
at leisure to resume the thoughts which her personal hurry had
checked. The indignant thought that his declaration of love soiled
her; that she could only be cleansed from the stain of its impurity
by appealing to the honest and true; supported her for a time
against her fears, and confirmed her in her hasty resolution. But
as the evening grew darker and darker, and the great city impended
nearer and nearer, the doubts usual in such cases began to arise.
Whether this was not a wild proceeding, after all; how Mr.
Grewgious might regard it; whether she should find him at the
journey's end; how she would act if he were absent; what might
become of her, alone, in a place so strange and crowded; how if she
had but waited and taken counsel first; whether, if she could now
go back, she would not do it thankfully; a multitude of such uneasy
speculations disturbed her, more and more as they accumulated.
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