? ? ? ? I shook my head.
? ? ? ? 'I don't know how it is, Agnes; I seem to want some faculty of mind that I ought to have. You were so much in the habit of thinking for me, in the happy old days here, and I came so naturally to you for counsel and support, that I really think I have missed acquiring it.'
? ? ? ? 'And what is it?' said Agnes, cheerfully.
? ? ? ? 'I don't know what to call it,' I replied. 'I think I am earnest and persevering?'
? ? ? ? 'I am sure of it,' said Agnes.
? ? ? ? 'And patient, Agnes?' I inquired, with a little hesitation.
? ? ? ? 'Yes,' returned Agnes, laughing. 'Pretty well.'
? ? ? ? 'And yet,' said I, 'I get so miserable and worried, and am so unsteady and irresolute in my power of assuring myself, that I know I must want - shall I call it - reliance, of some kind?'
? ? ? ? 'Call it so, if you will,' said Agnes.
? ? ? ? 'Well!' I returned. 'See here! You come to London, I rely on you, and I have an object and a course at once. I am driven out of it, I come here, and in a moment I feel an altered person. The circumstances that distressed me are not changed, since I came into this room; but an influence comes over me in that short interval that alters me, oh, how much for the better! What is it? What is your secret, Agnes?'
? ? ? ? Her head was bent down, looking at the fire.
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