Arthur winced under this speech, for keen old Mrs. Irwine’s opinion about him had the disagreeable effect of a sinister omen.  This, to be sure, was only another reason for persevering in his intention, and getting an additional security against himself.  Nevertheless, at this point in the conversation, he was conscious of increased disinclination to tell his story about Hetty.  He was of an impressible nature, and lived a great deal in other people’s opinions and feelings concerning himself; and the mere fact that he was in the presence of an intimate friend, who had not the slightest notion that he had had any such serious internal struggle as he came to confide, rather shook his own belief in the seriousness of the struggle.  It was not, after all, a thing to make a fuss about; and what could Irwine do for him that he could not do for himself?  He would go to Eagledale in spite of Meg’s lameness—­go on Rattler, and let Pym follow as well as he could on the old hack.  That was his thought as he sugared his coffee; but the next minute, as he was lifting the cup to his lips, he remembered how thoroughly he had made up his mind last night to tell Irwine.  No!  He would not be vacillating again—­he would do what he had meant to do, this time.  So it would be well not to let the personal tone of the conversation altogether drop.  If they went to quite indifferent topics, his difficulty would be heightened.  It had required no noticeable pause for this rush and rebound of feeling, before he answered, “But I think it is hardly an argument against a man’s general strength of character that he should be apt to be mastered by love.  A fine constitution doesn’t insure one against smallpox or any other of those inevitable diseases.  A man may be very firm in other matters and yet be under a sort of witchery from a woman.”

“Yes; but there’s this difference between love and smallpox, or bewitchment either—­that if you detect the disease at an early stage and try change of air, there is every chance of complete escape without any further development of symptoms.  And there are certain alternative doses which a man may administer to himself by keeping unpleasant consequences before his mind:  this gives you a sort of smoked glass through which you may look at the resplendent fair one and discern her true outline; though I’m afraid, by the by, the smoked glass is apt to be missing just at the moment it is most wanted.  I daresay, now, even a man fortified with a knowledge of the classics might be lured into an imprudent marriage, in spite of the warning given him by the chorus in the Prometheus.”

The smile that flitted across Arthur’s face was a faint one, and instead of following Mr. Irwine’s playful lead, he said, quite seriously—­“Yes, that’s the worst of it.  It’s a desperately vexatious thing, that after all one’s reflections and quiet determinations, we should be ruled by moods that one can’t calculate on beforehand.  I don’t think a man ought to be blamed so much if he is betrayed into doing things in that way, in spite of his resolutions.”