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 



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