CHAPTER XXIV 



HOME LIFE — MY FRIENDS AND ACQUAINTANCES — SIR 

 CHARLES LYELL 



Soon after my return home in the spring of 1862 my oldest 

 friend and schoolfellow, Mr. George Silk, introduced me to a 

 small circle of his friends, who had formed a private chess 

 club, and thereafter, while I lived in the vicinity of Kensing- 

 ton, I was invited to attend the meetings of the club. One 



of these friends was a Mr. L , a widower with two 



daughters, and a son who was at Cambridge University. I 

 sometimes went there with Silk on Sunday afternoons, and 

 after a few months was asked to call on them whenever I 



liked in the evening to play a game with Mr. L . On 



these occasions the young ladies were present, and we had 

 tea or supper together, and soon became very friendly. The 



eldest Miss L was, I think, about seven or eight and 



twenty, very agreeable though quiet, pleasant looking, well 

 educated, and fond of art and literature, and I soon began to 

 feel an affection for her, and to hope that she would become 

 my wife. In about a year after my first visit there, thinking 

 I was then sufficiently known, and being too shy to make a 

 verbal offer, I wrote to her, describing my feelings and asking 

 if she could in any way respond to my affection. Her reply 

 was a negative, but not a very decided one. Evidently my 

 undemonstrative manner had given her no intimation of my 

 intentions. She concluded her letter, which was a very kind 

 one, by begging that I would not allow her refusal to break 

 off my visits to her father. 



At first I was inclined not to go again, but on showing 

 the letter to my sister and mother, they thought the young 

 lady was favourably disposed, and that I had better go on 



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