CHAPTER IX
THE TEST OF LIFENow that he had won, now that the marriage and Loveman’s plans were potentially blocked, there should have been a let-down from Clifford’s long strain. But there was not. The settling of this affair seemed only to give mind-room to other concerns. He tossed about restlessly during the few hours that remained of the night; and he realized that his restlessness was not due wholly to the suspense of waiting for the finality that would come with Loveman’s completed promise.
In the slow hours before the coming of the slate-colored dawn a vague, disturbing doubt crept in upon him. He had interfered with events, he had tried to shape life upon his ideas: was his course right?—that seemed to be something of the impalpable substance of his doubt. But what this new doubt
