As I walked through the fresh, green world there ensued within me the following dispute, as it were, between myself and two voices; and the first voice I will call Pro, and the other Contra.
       MYSELF. May the devil take that "Gabbing Dick"!
       PRO. He probably will.
       MYSELF. Had he not told me of what he saw--of the man who looked at my Virgil--over her shoulder--
       PRO. Or had you not listened.
       MYSELF. Ah, yes!--but then, I did listen, and that he spoke the truth is beyond all doubt; the misplaced Virgil proves that. However, it is certain, yes, very certain, that I can remain no longer in the Hollow.
       CONTRA. Well, there is excellent accommodation at "The Bull."
       PRO. And, pray, why leave the Hollow?
       MYSELF. Because she is a woman--
       PRO. And you love her!
       MYSELF. To my sorrow.
       PRO. Well, but woman was made for man, Peter, and man for woman--!
       MYSELF (sternly). Enough of that--I must go!
       PRO. Being full of bitter jealousy.
       MYSELF. No!
       PRO. Being a mad, jealous fool--
       MYSELF. As you will.
       PRO. --who has condemned her unheard--with no chance of justification.
       MYSELF. To-morrow, at the very latest, I shall seek some other habitation.
       PRO. Has she the look of guilt?
       MYSELF. No; but then women are deceitful by nature, and very skilful in disguising their faults--at least so I have read in my books--
       PRO (contemptuously). Books! Books! Books!
       MYSELF (shortly). No matter; I have decided.
       PRO. Do you remember how willingly she worked for you with those slender, capable hands of hers--?
       MYSELF. Why remind me of this?
       Pro. You must needs miss her presence sorely; her footstep, that was always so quick and light--
       MYSELF. Truly wonderful in one so nobly formed!
       PRO. --and the way she had of singing softly to herself.
       MYSELF. A beautiful voice--
       PRO. With a caress in it! And then, her habit of looking at you over her shoulder.
       MYSELF. Ah, yes!--her lashes a little drooping, her brows a little wrinkled, her lips a little parted.
       CONTRA. A comfortable inn is "The Bull."
       MYSELF (hastily). Yes, yes--certainly.
       PRO. Ah!--her lips--the scarlet witchery of her lips! Do you remember how sweetly the lower one curved upward to its fellow? A mutinous mouth, with its sudden, bewildering changes! You never quite knew which to watch oftenest--her eyes or her lips--
       CONTRA (hoarsely). Excellent cooking at "The Bull"!
       PRO. And how she would berate you and scoff at your Master Epictetus, and dry-as-dust philosophers!
       MYSELF. I have sometimes wondered at her pronounced antipathy to Epictetus.
       PRO. And she called you a "creature."
       MYSELF. The meaning of which I never quite fathomed.
       PRO. And, frequently, a "pedant."
       MYSELF. I think not more than four times.
       PRO. On such occasions, you will remember, she had a petulant way of twitching her shoulder towards you and frowning, and, occasionally, stamping her foot; and, deep within you, you loved it all, you know you did.
       CONTRA. But that is all over, and you are going to "The Bull."
       MYSELF (hurriedly). To be sure--"The Bull."
       PRO. And, lastly, you cannot have forgotten--you never will forget--the soft tumult of the tender bosom that pillowed your battered head--the pity of her hands--those great, scalding tears, the sudden, swift caress of her lips, and the thrill in her voice when she said--
       MYSELF (hastily). Stop! that is all forgotten.
       PRO. You lie! You have dreamed of it ever since, working at your anvil, or lying upon your bed, with your eyes upon the stars; you have loved her from the beginning of things!
       MYSELF. And I did not know it; I was very blind. The wonder is that she did not discover my love for her long ago, for, not knowing it was there, how should I try to hide it?
       CONTRA. O Blind, and more than blind! Why should you suppose she hasn't?
       MYSELF (stopping short). What? Can it be possible that she has?
       CONTRA. Didn't she once say that she could read you like a book?
       MYSELF. She did.
       CONTRA. And have you not often surprised a smile upon her lips, and wondered?
       MYSELF. Many times.
       CONTRA. Have you not beheld a thin-veiled mockery in her look? Why, poor fool, has she not mocked you from the first? You dream of her lips. Were not their smiles but coquetry and derision?
       MYSELF. But why should she deride me?
       CONTRA. For your youth and--innocence.
       MYSELF. My youth! my innocence!
       CONTRA. Being a fool ingrain, didn't you boast that you had known but few women?
       MYSELF. I did, but--
       CONTRA. Didn't she call you boy! boy! boy!--and laugh at you?
       MYSELF. Well--even so--
       CONTRA (with bitter scorn). O Boy! O Innocent of the innocent! Go to, for a bookish fool! Learn that lovely ladies yield themselves but to those who are masterful in their wooing, who have wooed often, and triumphed as often. O Innocent of the innocent! Forget the maudlin sentiment of thy books and old romances--thy pure Sir Galahads, thy "vary parfait gentil knightes," thy meek and lowly lovers serving their ladies on bended knee; open thine eyes, learn that women to-day love only the strong hand, the bold eye, the ready tongue; kneel to her, and she will scorn and contemn you. What woman, think you, would prefer the solemn, stern-eyed purity of a Sir Galahad (though he be the king of men) to the quick-witted gayety of a debonair Lothario (though he be but the shadow of a man)? Out upon thee, pale-faced student! Thy tongue hath not the trick, nor thy mind the nimbleness for the winning of a fair and lovely lady. Thou'rt well enough in want of a better, but, when Lothario comes, must she not run to meet him with arms outstretched?
       "To-morrow," said I, clenching my fists, "to-morrow I will go away!"
       Being now come to the Hollow, I turned aside to the brook, at that place where was the pool in which I was wont to perform my morning ablutions; and, kneeling down, I gazed at myself in the dark, still water; and I saw that the night had, indeed, set its mark upon me.
       "To-morrow," said I again, nodding to the wild face below, "to-morrow I will go far hence."
       Now while I yet gazed at myself, I heard a sudden gasp behind me and, turning, beheld Charmian.
       "Peter! is it you?" she whispered, drawing back from me.
       "Who else, Charmian? Did I startle you?"
       "Yes--oh, Peter!"
       "Are you afraid of me?"
       "You are like one who has walked with--death!"
       I rose to my feet, and stood looking down at her. "Are you afraid of me, Charmian?"
       "No, Peter."
       "I am glad of that," said I, "because I want to ask you--to marry me, Charmian."

Ante Scriptum
book one
   Chapter I. Chiefly Concerning My Uncle's Last Will and Testament
   Chapter II. I Set Out
   Chapter III. Concerns Itself Mainly with a Hat
   Chapter IV. I Meet with a Great Misfortune
   Chapter V. The Bagman
   Chapter VI. What Befell Me at "The White Hart"
   Chapter VII. Of the Further Puzzling Behavior of Tom Cragg, the Pugilist
   Chapter VIII. Which Concerns Itself with a Farmer's Whiskers and a Waistcoat
   Chapter IX. In Which I Stumble Upon an Affair of Honor.
   Chapter X. Which Relates the End of an Honorable Affair
   Chapter XI. Which Relates a Brief Passage-at-Arms at "The Chequers" Inn
   Chapter XII. The One-Legged Soldier
   Chapter XIII. In Which I Find an Answer to My Riddle
   Chapter XIV. Further Concerning the Gentleman in the Battered Hat
   Chapter XV. In Which I Meet with a Pedler by the Name of "Gabbing" Dick
   Chapter XVI. How I Heard the Steps of One Who Dogged Me in the Shadows
   Chapter XVII. How I Talked with a Madman in a Wood by Moonlight
   Chapter XVIII. The Hedge-Tavern
   Chapter XIX. In Which I Become a Squire of Dames
   Chapter XX. Concerning Daemons in General and One in Particular
   Chapter XXI. "Journeys End in Lovers' Meetings"
   Chapter XXII. In Which I Meet with a Literary Tinker
   Chapter XXIII. Concerning Happiness, a Ploughman, and Silver Buttons
   Chapter XXIV. Which Introduces the Reader to the Ancient
   Chapter XXV. Of Black George, the Smith, and How We Threw the Hammer
   Chapter XXVI. Wherein I Learn More Concerning the GHost of the Ruined Hut
   Chapter XXVII. Which Tells How and in What MAnner I Saw the Ghost
   Chapter XXVIII. The Highland Piper
   Chapter XXIX. How Black George and I Shook Hands
   Chapter XXX. In Which I Forswear Myself and Am Accused of Possessing the "Evil Eye"
   Chapter XXXI. In Which Donald Bids Me Farewell
   Chapter XXXII. In Which This First Book Begins to Draw to a Close
   Chapter XXXIII. In Which We Draw Yet Nearer to the End of This First Book
   Chapter XXXIV. Which Describes Sundry Happenings at the Fair, and Ends This First Book
   A Word to the Reader
book two. the woman
   Chapter I. Of Storm, and TEmpest, and of the Coming of Charmian
   Chapter II. The Postilion
   Chapter III. Which Bears Ample Testimony to the Strength of the Gentleman's Fists
   Chapter IV. Which, Among Other Matters, Has to Do with Bruises and Bandages
   Chapter V. In Which I Hear Ill News of George
   Chapter VI. In Which I Learn of an Impending Danger
   Chapter VII. Which Narrates a Somewhat Remarkable Conversation
   Chapter VIII. In Which I See a Vision in the Glory of the Moon, and Eat of a Poached Rabbit
   Chapter IX. Which Relates Somewhat of Charmian Brown
   Chapter X. I Am Suspected of the Black Art
   Chapter XI. A Shadow in the Hedge
   Chapter XII. Who Comes?
   Chapter XIII. A Pedler in Arcadia
   Chapter XIV. Concerning Black George's Letter
   Chapter XV. Which, Being in Parenthesis, May Be Skipped if the Reader so Desire
   Chapter XVI. Concerning, Among Other Matters, the Price of Beef, and the Lady Sophia Sefton of Cambourne
   Chapter XVII. The Omen
   Chapter XVIII. In Which I Hear News of Sir Maurice Vibart
   Chapter XIX. How I Met Black George Again, and Wherein the Patient Reader Shall Find a "Little Blood"
   Chapter XX. How I Came Up Out of the Dark
   Chapter XXI. Of the Opening of the Door, and How Charmian Blew Out the Light
   Chapter XXII. In Which the Ancient Discourses on Love
   Chapter XXIII. How Gabbing Dick, the Pedler, Set a Hammer Going in My Head
   Chapter XXIV. The Virgil Book
   Chapter XXV. In Which the Reader Shall Find Little to Do with the Story, and May, Therefore, Skip
   Chapter XXVI. Of Storm, and Tempest, and How I Met One Praying in the Dawn
   Chapter XXVII. The Epileptic
   Chapter XXVIII. In Which I Come to a Determination
   Chapter XXIX. In Which Charmian Answers My Question
   Chapter XXX. Concerning the Fate of Black George
   Chapter XXXI. In Which the Ancient is Surprised
   Chapter XXXII. How We Set Out for Burnham Hall
   Chapter XXXIII. In Which I Fall from Folly into Madness
   Chapter XXXIV. In Which I Find Peace and Joy and an Abiding Sorrow
   Chapter XXXV. How Black George Found Prudence in the Dawn
   Chapter XXXVI. Which Sympathizes with a Brass Jack, a Brace of Cutlasses, and Divers Pots and Pans
   Chapter XXXVII. The Preacher
   Chapter XXXVIII. In Which I Meet My Cousin, Sir Maurice Vibart
   Chapter XXXIX. How I Went Down into the Shadows
   Chapter XL. How, in Place of Death, I Found the Fulness of Life
   Chapter XLI. Light and Shadow
   Chapter XLII. How Sir Maurice Kept His Word
   Chapter XLIII. How I Set Out to Face My Destiny
   Chapter XLIV. The Bow Street Runners
   Chapter XLV. Which Concerns Itself, Among Other Matters, with the Boots of the Saturnine Jeremy
   Chapter XLVI. How I Came to London
   Chapter XLVII. In Which this History is Ended