But Paul would not submit to this.  He felt he was bound himself to incur the risk of those claws, and that no substitute could take his place.  They sat long into the night, and it was at last resolved between them that on the next morning Paul should go to Islington, should tell Mrs Hurtle all the stories which he had heard, and should end by declaring his resolution that under no circumstances would he marry her.  They both felt how improbable it was that he should ever be allowed to get to the end of such a story,—­how almost certain it was that the breeding of the wild cat would show itself before that time should come.  But, still, that was the course to be pursued as far as circumstances would admit; and Paul was at any rate to...