If people who are in a difficulty will only do the
first little reasonable thing which they can clearly recognise as
reasonable, they will always find the next step more easy both to see and
take. What, then, thought Theobald, was here at this moment the first
and most obvious matter to be considered, and what would be an equitable
view of his and Christina's relative positions in respect to it? Clearly
their first dinner was their first joint entry into the duties and
pleasures of married life. No less clearly it was Christina's duty to
order it, and his own to eat it and pay for it.
The arguments leading to this conclusion, and the conclusion itself,
flashed upon Theobald about three and a half miles after he had left
Crampsford on the road to Newmarket. He had breakfasted early, but his
usual appetite had failed him. They had left the vicarage at noon
without staying for the wedding breakfast. Theobald liked an early
dinner; it dawned upon him that he was beginning to be hungry; from this
to the conclusion stated in the preceding paragraph the steps had been
easy. After a few minutes' further reflection he broached the matter to
his bride, and thus the ice was broken.
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