Without power for self-analysis, without being able to penetrate the
inner recesses of his own soul in that crisis, he trudged on.
A little later, almost unconscious of volition in the matter, he found
himself at a steamboat office buying a ticket. He was going back to the
obscurity of Maquoit. But he was fully conscious that he was not obeying
Julius Marston's injunction to go and hide. A deeper sentiment was
drawing him. He knew where there existed simple faith in him and
affection for him, and he craved that solace. There were humble folks in
Maquoit who would welcome him.
"I'll go back--I'll go home," he said. Once he would have smiled at the
thought that he would ever call the Hue and Cry colony "home."