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little beyond the cross-roads, and so reached Hickleybrow first.
Bensington, with a gun between his knees, sitting beside Cossar in the
dog-cart, developed a long germinated amazement. All they were doing
was, no doubt, as Cossar insisted, quite the obvious thing to do,
only--! In England one so rarely does the obvious thing. He glanced from
his neighbour's feet to the boldly sketched hands upon the reins. Cossar
had apparently never driven before, and he was keeping the line of least
resistance down the middle of the road by some no doubt quite obvious
but certainly unusual light of his own.
"Why don't we all do the obvious?" thought Bensington. "How the world
would travel if one did! I wonder for instance why I don't do such a
lot of things I know would be all right to do--things I want to do. Is
everybody like that, or is it peculiar to me!" He plunged into obscure
speculation about the Will. He thought of the complex organised
futilities of the daily life, and in contrast with them the plain and
manifest things to do, the sweet and splendid things to do, that some
incredible influences will never permit us to do. Cousin Jane? Cousin
Jane he perceived was important in the question, in some subtle and
difficult way. Why should we after all eat, drink, and sleep, remain
unmarried, go here, abstain from going there, all out of deference to
Cousin Jane? She became symbolical without ceasing to be
incomprehensible!
A stile and a path across the fields caught his eye and reminded him of
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