No, he was not going back.
She had taught him to find amusement and occupation in many things
that were better and higher than any pleasures or pursuits he had
known before, and he could not give them up. He had her to thank for
that at least. And he would give her credit for it too, and
gratefully. He would always remember it, and he would show in his way
of living the influence and the good effects of these three months in
which they had been continually together.
He had reached Forty-second Street now. Well, it was over with, and he
would get to work at something or other. This experience had shown him
that he was not meant for marriage; that he was intended to live
alone. Because, if he found that a girl as lovely as she undeniably
was palled on him after three months, it was evident that he would
never live through life with any other one. Yes, he would always be a
bachelor. He had lived his life, had told his story at the age of
twenty-five, and would wait patiently for the end, a marked and gloomy
man. He would travel now and see the world. He would go to that hotel
in Cairo she was always talking about, where they were to have gone on
their honeymoon; or he might strike further into Africa, and come back
bronzed and worn with long marches and jungle fever, and with his hair
prematurely white.
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