The idea of waiting till somebody married Zulora
was to be no less summarily dismissed. To marry Arowhena at once in
Erewhon--this had already been abandoned: there remained therefore but
one alternative, and that was to run away with her, and get her with me
to Europe, where there would be no bar to our union save my own
impecuniosity, a matter which gave me no uneasiness.
To this obvious and simple plan I could see but two objections that
deserved the name,--the first, that perhaps Arowhena would not come; the
second, that it was almost impossible for me to escape even alone, for
the king had himself told me that I was to consider myself a prisoner on
parole, and that the first sign of my endeavouring to escape would cause
me to be sent to one of the hospitals for incurables. Besides, I did not
know the geography of the country, and even were I to try and find my way
back, I should be discovered long before I had reached the pass over
which I had come. How then could I hope to be able to take Arowhena with
me? For days and days I turned these difficulties over in my mind, and
at last hit upon as wild a plan as was ever suggested by extremity. This
was to meet the second difficulty: the first gave me less uneasiness, for
when Arowhena and I next met after our interview in the garden I could
see that she had suffered not less acutely than myself.
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