hecould
not
be
spontaneous
;
he
was
tormented
by
self-consciousness
,
and
it
was
impossible
to
him
to
talk
and
behave
as
those
talk
and
behave
who
have
been
brought
up
more
or
less
in
the
big
world
from
the
beginning
.
So
this
dream
,
too
,
faded
,
for
youth
asks
,
before
all
things
,
simplicity
and
spontaneity
in
those
who
would
take
possession
of
it
.
His
lectures
,
which
were
at
first
brilliant
enough
to
attract
numbers
of
men
from
other
colleges
,
became
gradually
mere
dry
,
ingenious
skeletons
,
without
life
or
feeling
.
It
was
possible
to
learn
a
great
deal
from
him
;
it
was
not
possible
to
catch
from
him
any
contagion
of
that
amor
intellectualis
which
had
flamed
at
one
moment
so
high
within
him
.
He
ceased
to
compose
;
but
as
the
intellectual
faculty
must
have
some
employment
,
he
became
a
translator
,
a
contributor
to
dictionaries
,
a
microscopic
student
of
texts
,
not
in
the
interest
of
anything
beyond
,
but
simply
as
a
kind
of
mental
stone-breaking
.
The
only
survival
of
that
moment
of
glow
and
colour
in
his
life
was
his
love
of
music
and
the
theatre
.
Almost
every
year
he
disappeared
to
France
to
haunt
the
Paris
theatres
for
a
fortnight
;
to
Berlin
or
Bayreuth
to
drink
his
fill
of
music
.
He
talked
neither
of
music
nor
of
acting
;
he
made
no
one
sharer
of
his
enjoyment
,
if
he
did
enjoy
.
It
was
simply
his
way
of
cheating
his
creative
faculty
,
which
,
though
it
had
grown
impotent
,
was
still
there
,
still
restless
.
Altogether
a
melancholy
,
pitiable
man
—
at
once
thorough-going
sceptic
and
thorough-going
idealist
,
the
victim
of
that
critical
sense
which
says
No
to
every
impulse
,
and
is
always
restlessly
,
and
yet
hopelessly
,
seeking
the
future
through
the
neglected
and
outraged
present
.
And
yet
the
man
's
instincts
,
at
this
period
of
his
life
at
any
rate
,
were
habitually
kindly
and
affectionate
.
He
knew
nothing
of
women
,
and
was
not
liked
by
them
,
but
it
was
not
his
fault
if
he
made
no
impression
on
the
youth
about
him
.
It
seemed
to
him
that
he
was
always
seeking
in
their
eyes
and
faces
for
some
light
of
sympathy
which
was
always
escaping
him
,
and
which
he
was
powerless
to
compel
.
He
met
it
for
the
first
time
in
Robert
Elsmere
.
The
susceptible
,
poetical
boy
was
struck
at
some
favourable
moment
by
that
romantic
side
of
the
ineffective
tutor
—
his
silence
,
his
melancholy
,
his
personal
beauty
—
which
no
one
else
,
with
perhaps
one
or
two
exceptions
among
the
older
men
,
cared
to
take
into
account
;
or
touched
perhaps
by
some
note
in
him
,
surprised
in
passing
,
of
weariness
or
shrinking
,
as
compared
with
the
contemptuous
tone
of
the
College
towards
him
.
He
showed
his
liking
impetuously
,
boyishly
,
as
his
way
was
,
and
thenceforward
during
his
University
career
Langham
became
his
slave
.
He
had
no
ambition
for
himself
;
his
motto
might
have
been
that
dismal
one
—
'
The
small
things
of
life
are
odious
to
me
,
and
the
habit
of
them
enslaves
me
;
the
great
things
of
life
are
eternally
attractive
to
me
,
and
indolence
and
fear
put
them
by
;
'
but
for
the
University
chances
of
this
lanky
,
red-haired
youth
—
with
his
eagerness
,
his
boundless
curi
osity
,
his
genius
for
all
sorts
of
lovable
mistakes
—
he
disquieted
himself
greatly
.
He
tried
to
discipline
the
roving
mind
,
to
infuse
into
the
boy
's
literary
temper
the
delicacy
,
the
precision
,
the
subtlety
of
his
own
.
His
fastidious
,
critical
habits
of
work
supplied
exactly
that
antidote
which
Elsmere
's
main
faults
of
haste
and
carelessness
required
.
He
was
always
holding
up
before
him
the
inexhaustible
patience
and
labour
involved
in
all
true
knowledge
;
and
it
was
to
the
germs
of
critical
judgment
so
implanted
in
him
that
Elsmere
owed
many
of
the
later
growths
of
his
development
—
growths
with
which
we
have
not
yet
to
concern
ourselves
.
And
in
return
,
the
tutor
allowed
himself
rarely
,
very
rarely
,
a
moment
of
utterance
from
the
depths
of
his
real
self
.
One
evening
in
the
summer
term
following
the
boy
's
matriculation
,
Elsmere
brought
him
an
essay
after
Hall
,
and
they
sat
on
talking
afterwards
.
It
was
a
rainy
,
cheerless
evening
;
the
first
contest
of
the
Boats
week
had
been
rowed
in
cold
wind
and
sleet
;
a
dreary
blast
whistled
through
the
College
.
Suddenly
Langham
reached
out
his
hand
for
an
open
letter
.
'
I
have
had
an
offer
,
Elsmere
,
'
he
said
abruptly
.
And
he
put
it
into
his
hand
.
It
was
the
offer
of
an
important
Scotch
professorship
,
coming
from
the
man
most
influential
in
assigning
it
.
The
last
occupant
of
the
post
had
been
a
scholar
of
European
eminence
.
Langham
's
contributions
to
a
great
foreign
review
,
and
certain
Oxford
recommendations
,
were
the
basis
of
the
present
overture
,
which
,
coming
from
one
who
was
himself
a
classic
of
the
classics
,
was
couched
in
terms
flattering
to
any
young
man
's
vanity
.
Robert
looked
up
with
a
joyful
exclamation
when
he
had
finished
the
letter
.
'
I
congratulate
you
,
sir
.
'
'
I
have
refused
it
,
'
said
Langham
abruptly
.
His
companion
sat
open-mouthed
.
Young
as
he
was
,
he
knew
perfectly
well
that
this
particular
appointment
was
one
of
the
blue
ribbons
of
British
scholarship
.
'
Do
you
think
—
'
said
the
other
in
a
tone
of
singular
vibration
,
which
had
in
it
a
note
of
almost
contemptuous
irritation
—
'
do
you
think
I
am
the
man
to
get
and
keep
a
hold
on
a
rampagious
class
of
hundreds
of
Scotch
lads
?
Do
you
think
I
am
the
man
to
carry
on
what
Reid
began
—
Reid
,
that
old
fighter
,
that
preacher
of
all
sorts
of
jubilant
dogmas
?
'
He
looked
at
Elsmere
under
his
straight
black
brows
imperiously
.
The
youth
felt
the
nervous
tension
in
the
elder
man
's
voice
and
manner
,
was
startled
by
a
confidence
never
before
bestowed
upon
him
,
close
as
that
unequal
bond
between
them
had
been
growing
during
the
six
months
of
his
Oxford
life
,
and
plucking
up
courage
hurled
at
him
a
number
of
frank
,
young
expostulations
,
which
really
put
into
friendly
shape
all
that
was
being
said
about
Langham
in
his
College
and
in
the
University
.
Why
was
he
so
self-distrustful
,
so
absurdly
diffident
of
responsibility
,
so
bent
on
hiding
his
great
gifts
under
a
bushel
?
The
tutor
smiled
sadly
,
and
,
sitting
down
,
buried
his
head
in
his
hands
and
said
nothing
for
a
while
.
Then
he
looked
up
and
stretched
out
a
hand
towards
a
book
which
lay
on
a
table
near
.
It
was
the
Réveries
of
Senancour
.
'
My
answer
is
written
here
,
'
he
said
.
'
It
will
seem
to
you
now
,
Elsmere
,
mere
Midsummer
madness
.
May
it
always
seem
so
to
you
.
Forgive
me
.
The
pressure
of
solitude
sometimes
is
too
great
.
'
Elsmere
looked
up
with
one
of
his
flashing
,
affectionate
smiles
,
and
took
the
book
from
Langham
's
hand
.
He
found
on
the
open
page
a
marked
passage
:
'
Oh
swiftly
passing
seasons
of
life
!
There
was
a
time
when
men
seemed
to
be
sincere
;
when
thought
was
nourished
on
friendship
,
kindness
,
love
;
when
dawn
still
kept
its
brilliance
,
and
the
night
its
peace
.
I
can
,
the
soul
said
to
itself
,
and
I
will
;
I
will
do
all
that
is
right
—
all
that
is
natural
.
But
soon
resistance
,
difficulty
,
unforeseen
,
coming
we
know
not
whence
,
arrest
us
,
undeceive
us
,
and
the
human
yoke
grows
heavy
on
our
necks
.
Thenceforward
we
become
merely
sharers
in
the
common
woe
.
Hemmed
in
on
all
sides
,
we
feel
our
faculties
only
to
realise
their
impotence
:
we
have
time
and
strength
to
do
what
we
must
,
never
what
we
will
.
Men
go
on
repeating
the
words
work
,
genius
,
success
.
Fools
!
Will
all
these
resounding
projects
,
though
they
enable
us
to
cheat
ourselves
,
enable
us
to
cheat
the
icy
fate
which
rules
us
and
our
globe
,
wandering
forsaken
through
the
vast
silence
of
the
heavens
?
'
Robert
looked
up
startled
,
the
book
dropping
from
his
hand
.
The
words
sent
a
chill
to
the
heart
of
one
born
to
hope
,
to
will
,
to
crave
.
Suddenly
Langham
dashed
the
volume
from
him
,
almost
with
violence
.
'
Forget
that
drivel
,
Elsmere
.
It
was
a
crime
to
show
it
to
you
.
It
is
not
sane
;
neither
perhaps
am
I
.
But
I
am
not
going
to
Scotland
.
They
would
request
me
to
resign
in
a
week
.
'
Long
after
Elsmere
,
who
had
stayed
talking
a
while
on
other
things
,
had
gone
,
Langham
sat
on
brooding
over
the
empty
grate
.
'
Corrupter
of
youth
!
'
he
said
to
himself
once
bitterly
.
And
perhaps
it
was
to
a
certain
remorse
in
the
tutor
's
mind
that
Elsmere
owed
an
experience
of
great
importance
to
his
after
life
.
The
name
of
a
certain
Mr.
Grey
had
for
some
time
before
his
entry
at
Oxford
been
more
or
less
familiar
to
Robert
's
ears
as
that
of
a
person
of
great
influence
and
consideration
at
St.
Anselm
's
.
His
tutor
at
Harden
had
spoken
of
him
in
the
boy
's
hearing
as
one
of
the
most
remarkable
men
of
the
generation
,
and
had
several
times
impressed
upon
his
pupil
that
nothing
could
be
so
desirable
for
him
as
to
secure
the
friendship
of
such
a
man
.
It
was
on
the
occasion
of
his
first
interview
with
the
Provost
,
after
the
scholarship
examination
,
that
Robert
was
first
brought
face
to
face
with
Mr.
Grey
.
He
could
remember
a
short
dark
man
standing
beside
the
Provost
,
who
had
been
introduced
to
him
by
that
name
,
but
the
nervousness
of
the
moment
had
been
so
great
that
the
boy
had
been
quite
incapable
of
giving
him
any
special
attention
.
During
his
first
term
and
a
half
of
residence
,
Robert
occasionally
met
Mr.
Grey
in
the
quadrangle
or
in
the
street
,
and
the
tutor
,
remembering
the
thin
,
bright-faced
youth
,
would
return
his
salutations
kindly
,
and
sometimes
stop
to
speak
to
him
,
to
ask
him
if
he
were
comfortably
settled
in
his
rooms
,
or
make
a
remark
about
the
boats
.
But
the
acquaintance
did
not
seem
likely
to
progress
,
for
Mr.
Grey
was
a
Greats
tutor
,
and
Robert
naturally
had
nothing
to
do
with
him
as
far
as
work
was
concerned
.
However
,
a
day
or
two
after
the
conversation
we
have
described
,
Robert
,
going
to
Langham
's
rooms
late
in
the
afternoon
to
return
a
book
which
had
been
lent
to
him
,
perceived
two
figures
standing
talking
on
the
hearth-rug
,
and
by
the
western
light
beating
in
recognised
the
thick-set
frame
and
broad
brow
of
Mr.
Grey
.
'
Come
in
,
Elsmere
,
'
said
Langham
,
as
he
stood
hesitating
on
the
threshold
.
'
You
have
met
Mr.
Grey
before
,
I
think
?
'
'
We
first
met
at
an
anxious
moment
,
'
said
Mr.
Grey
,
smiling
and
shaking
hands
with
the
boy
'
A
first
interview
with
the
Provost
is
always
formidable
.
I
remember
it
too
well
myself
.
You
did
very
well
,
I
remember
,
Mr.
Elsmere
.
Well
,
Langham
,
I
must
be
off
.
I
shall
be
late
for
my
meeting
as
it
is
.
I
think
we
have
settled
our
business
.
Good-night
.
'
Langham
stood
a
moment
after
the
door
closed
,
eyeing
young
Elsmere
.
There
was
a
curious
struggle
going
on
in
the
tutor
's
mind
.
'
Elsmere
,
'
he
said
at
last
abruptly
,
'
would
you
like
to
go
to-night
and
hear
Grey
preach
?
'
'
Preach
!
'
exclaimed
the
lad
.
'
I
thought
he
was
a
layman
.
'
'
So
he
is
.
It
will
be
a
lay
sermon
.
It
was
always
the
custom
here
with
the
clerical
tutors
to
address
their
men
once
a
term
before
Communion
Sunday
,
and
some
years
ago
,
when
Grey
first
became
tutor
,
he
determined
,
though
he
was
a
layman
,
to
carry
on
the
practice
.
It
was
an
extraordinary
effort
,
for
he
is
a
man
to
whom
words
on
such
a
subject
are
the
coining
of
his
heart
's
blood
,
and
he
has
repeated
it
very
rarely
.
It
is
two
years
now
since
his
last
address
.
'
'
Of
course
I
should
like
to
go
,
'
said
Robert
with
eagerness
.
'
Is
it
open
?
'
'
Strictly
it
is
for
his
Greats
pupils
,
but
I
can
take
you
in
.
It
is
hardly
meant
for
freshmen
;
but
—
well
,
you
are
far
enough
on
to
make
it
interesting
to
you
.
'
'
The
lad
will
take
to
Grey
's
influence
like
a
fish
to
water
,
'
thought
the
tutor
to
himself
when
he
was
alone
,
not
without
a
strange
reluctance
.
'
Well
,
no
one
can
say
I
have
not
given
him
his
opportunity
to
be
"
earnest
.
"
'
The
sarcasm
of
the
last
word
was
the
kind
of
sarcasm
which
a
man
of
his
type
in
an
earlier
generation
might
have
applied
to
the
'
earnestness
'
of
an
Arnoldian
Rugby
.
At
eight
o'clock
that
evening
Robert
found
himself
crossing
the
quadrangle
with
Langham
on
the
way
to
one
of
the
larger
lecture
rooms
,
which
was
to
be
the
scene
of
the
address
.
The
room
when
they
got
in
was
already
nearly
full
,
all
the
working
fellows
of
the
college
were
present
,
and
a
body
of
some
thirty
men
besides
,
most
of
them
already
far
on
in
their
University
career
.
A
minute
or
two
afterwards
Mr.
Grey
entered
.
The
door
opening
on
to
the
quadrangle
,
where
the
trees
,
undeterred
by
east
wind
,
were
just
bursting
into
leaf
,
was
shut
;
and
the
little
assembly
knelt
,
while
Mr.
Grey
's
voice
with
its
broad
intonation
,
in
which
a
strong
native
homeliness
lingered
under
the
gentleness
of
accent
,
recited
the
collect
'
Lord
of
all
power
and
might
,
'
a
silent
pause
following
the
last
words
.
Then
the
audience
settled
itself
,
and
Mr.
Grey
,
standing
by
a
small
deal
table
with
the
gaslight
behind
him
,
began
his
address
.
All
the
main
points
of
the
experience
which
followed
stamped
themselves
on
Robert
's
mind
with
extraordinary
intensity
.
Nor
did
he
ever
lose
the
memory
of
the
outward
scene
.
In
after
years
,
memory
could
always
recall
to
him
at
will
the
face
and
figure
of
the
speaker
,
the
massive
head
,
the
deep
eyes
sunk
under
the
brows
,
the
Midland
accent
,
the
make
of
limb
and
feature
which
seemed
to
have
some
suggestion
in
them
of
the
rude
strength
and
simplicity
of
a
peasant
ancestry
;
and
then
the
nobility
,
the
fire
,
the
spiritual
beauty
flashing
through
it
all
!
Here
,
indeed
,
was
a
man
on
whom
his
fellows
might
lean
,
a
man
in
whom
the
generation
of
spiritual
force
was
so
strong
and
continuous
that
it
overflowed
of
necessity
into
the
poorer
,
barrener
lives
around
him
,
kindling
and
enriching
.
Robert
felt
himself
seized
and
penetrated
,
filled
with
a
fervour
and
an
admiration
which
he
was
too
young
and
immature
to
analyse
,
but
which
was
to
be
none
the
less
potent
and
lasting
.
Much
of
the
sermon
itself
,
indeed
,
was
beyond
him
.
It
was
on
the
meaning
of
St.
Paul
's
great
conception
,
'
Death
unto
sin
and
a
new
birth
unto
righteousness
.
'
What
did
the
Apostle
mean
by
a
death
to
sin
and
self
?
What
were
the
precise
ideas
attached
to
the
words
'
risen
with
Christ
'
?
Are
this
death
and
this
resurrection
necessarily
dependent
upon
certain
alleged
historical
events
?
Or
are
they
not
primarily
,
and
were
they
not
,
even
in
the
mind
of
St.
Paul
,
two
aspects
of
a
spiritual
process
perpetually
re-enacted
in
the
soul
of
man
,
and
constituting
the
veritable
revelation
of
God
?
Which
is
the
stable
and
lasting
witness
of
the
Father
:
the
spiritual
history
of
the
individual
and
the
world
,
or
the
envelope
of
miracle
to
which
hitherto
mankind
has
attributed
so
much
importance
?
Mr.
Grey
's
treatment
of
these
questions
was
clothed
,
through
out
a
large
portion
of
the
lecture
,
in
metaphysical
language
,
which
no
boy
fresh
from
school
,
however
intellectually
quick
,
could
be
expected
to
follow
with
any
precision
.
It
was
not
,
therefore
,
the
argument
,
or
the
logical
structure
of
the
sermon
,
which
so
profoundly
affected
young
Elsmere
.
It
was
the
speaker
himself
,
and
the
occasional
passages
in
which
,
addressing
himself
to
the
practical
needs
of
his
hearers
,
he
put
before
them
the
claims
and
conditions
of
the
higher
life
with
a
pregnant
simplicity
and
rugged
beauty
of
phrase
.
Conceit
,
selfishness
,
vice
—
how
,
as
he
spoke
of
them
,
they
seemed
to
wither
from
his
presence
!
How
the
'
pitiful
,
earthy
self
'
with
its
passions
and
its
cravings
sank
into
nothingness
beside
the
'
great
ideas
'
and
the
'
great
causes
'
for
which
,
as
Christians
and
as
men
,
he
claimed
their
devotion
.
To
the
boy
sitting
among
the
crowd
at
the
back
of
the
room
,
his
face
supported
in
his
hands
and
his
gleaming
eyes
fixed
on
the
speaker
,
it
seemed
as
if
all
the
poetry
and
history
through
which
a
restless
curiosity
and
ideality
had
carried
him
so
far
,
took
a
new
meaning
from
this
experience
.
It
was
by
men
like
this
that
the
moral
progress
of
the
world
had
been
shaped
and
inspired
;
he
felt
brought
near
to
the
great
primal
forces
breathing
through
the
divine
workshop
;
and
in
place
of
natural
disposition
and
reverent
compliance
,
there
sprang
up
in
him
suddenly
an
actual
burning
certainty
of
belief
.
'
Axioms
are
not
axioms
,
'
said
poor
Keats
,
'
till
they
have
been
proved
upon
our
pulses
;
'
and
the
old
familiar
figure
of
the
Divine
combat
,
of
the
struggle
in
which
man
and
God
are
one
,
was
proved
once
more
upon
a
human
pulse
on
that
May
night
,
in
the
hush
of
that
quiet
lecture
room
.
As
the
little
moving
crowd
of
men
dispersed
over
the
main
quadrangle
to
their
respective
staircases
,
Langham
and
Robert
stood
together
a
moment
in
the
windy
darkness
,
lit
by
the
occasional
glimmering
of
a
cloudy
moon
.
'
Thank
you
,
thank
you
,
sir
!
'
said
the
lad
,
eager
and
yet
afraid
to
speak
,
lest
he
should
break
the
spell
of
memory
.
'
I
should
be
sorry
indeed
to
have
missed
that
!
'
'
Yes
,
it
was
fine
,
extraordinarily
fine
,
the
best
he
has
ever
given
,
I
think
.
Good-night
.
'
And
Langham
turned
away
,
his
head
sunk
on
his
breast
,
his
hands
behind
him
.
Robert
went
to
his
room
conscious
of
a
momentary
check
of
feeling
.
But
it
soon
passed
,
and
he
sat
up
late
,
thinking
of
the
sermon
,
or
pouring
out
in
a
letter
to
his
mother
the
new
hero-worship
of
which
his
mind
was
full
.
A
few
days
later
,
as
it
happened
,
came
an
invitation
to
the
junior
exhibitioner
to
spend
an
evening
at
Mr.
Grey
's
house
.
Elsmere
went
in
a
state
of
curious
eagerness
and
trepidation
,
and
came
away
with
a
number
of
fresh
impressions
which
,
when
he
had
put
them
into
order
,
did
but
quicken
his
new-born
sense
of
devotion
.
The
quiet
unpretending
house
with
its
exquisite
neatness
and
its
abundance
of
books
,
the
family
life
,
with
the
heart-happiness
underneath
,
and
the
gentle
trust
and
courtesy
on
the
surface
,
the
little
touches
of
austerity
which
betrayed
themselves
here
and
there
in
the
household
ways
—
all
these
surroundings
stole
into
the
lad
's
imagination
,
touched
in
him
responsive
fibres
of
taste
and
feeling
.
But
there
was
some
surprise
,
too
,
mingled
with
the
charm
.
He
came
,
still
shaken
,
as
it
were
,
by
the
power
of
the
sermon
,
expecting
to
see
in
the
preacher
of
it
the
outward
and
visible
signs
of
a
leadership
which
,
as
he
already
knew
,
was
a
great
force
in
Oxford
life
.
His
mood
was
that
of
the
disciple
only
eager
to
be
enrolled
.
And
what
he
found
was
a
quiet
,
friendly
,
host
,
surrounded
by
a
group
of
men
talking
the
ordinary
pleasant
Oxford
chit-chat
—
the
river
,
the
schools
,
the
Union
,
the
football
matches
,
and
so
on
.
Every
now
and
then
,
as
Elsmere
stood
at
the
edge
of
the
circle
listening
,
the
rugged
face
in
the
centre
of
it
would
break
into
a
smile
,
or
some
boyish
speaker
would
elicit
the
low
spontaneous
laugh
in
which
there
was
such
a
sound
of
human
fellowship
,
such
a
genuine
note
of
self-forgetfulness
.
Sometimes
the
conversation
strayed
into
politics
,
and
then
Mr.
Grey
,
an
eager
politician
,
would
throw
back
his
head
,
and
talk
with
more
sparkle
and
rapidity
,
flashing
occasionally
into
grim
humour
which
seemed
to
throw
light
on
the
innate
strength
and
pugnacity
of
the
peasant
and
Puritan
breed
from
which
he
sprang
.
Nothing
could
be
more
unlike
the
inspired
philosopher
,
the
mystic
surrounded
by
an
adoring
school
,
whom
Robert
had
been
picturing
to
himself
in
his
walk
up
to
the
house
,
through
the
soft
May
twilight
.
It
was
not
long
before
the
tutor
had
learned
to
take
much
kindly
notice
of
the
ardent
and
yet
modest
exhibitioner
,
in
whose
future
it
was
impossible
not
to
feel
a
sympathetic
interest
.
'
You
will
always
find
us
on
Sunday
afternoons
,
before
chapel
,
'
he
said
to
him
one
day
as
they
parted
after
watching
a
football
match
in
the
damp
mists
of
the
Park
,
and
the
boy
's
flush
of
pleasure
showed
how
much
he
valued
the
permission
.
For
three
years
those
Sunday
half-hours
were
the
great
charm
of
Robert
Elsmere
's
life
.
When
he
came
to
look
back
upon
them
,
he
could
remember
nothing
very
definite
.
A
few
interesting
scraps
of
talk
about
books
;
a
good
deal
of
talk
about
politics
,
showing
in
the
tutor
a
living
interest
in
the
needs
and
training
of
that
broadening
democracy
on
which
the
future
of
England
rests
;
a
few
graphic
sayings
about
individuals
;
above
all
,
a
constant
readiness
on
the
host
's
part
to
listen
,
to
sit
quiet
,
with
the
slight
unconscious
look
of
fatigue
which
was
so
eloquent
of
a
strenuous
intellectual
life
,
taking
kindly
heed
of
anything
that
sincerity
,
even
a
stupid
awkward
sincerity
,
had
got
to
say
—
these
were
the
sort
of
impressions
they
had
left
behind
them
,
reinforced
always
,
indeed
,
by
the
one
continuous
impression
of
a
great
soul
speaking
with
difficulty
and
labour
,
but
still
clearly
,
still
effectually
,
through
an
unblemished
series
of
noble
acts
and
efforts
.
Term
after
term
passed
away
.
Mrs.
Elsmere
became
more
and
more
proud
of
her
boy
,
and
more
and
more
assured
that
her
years
of
intelligent
devotion
to
him
had
won
her
his
entire
love
and
confidence
,
'
so
long
as
they
both
should
live
;
'
she
came
up
to
see
him
once
or
twice
,
making
Langham
almost
flee
the
University
because
she
would
be
grateful
to
him
in
public
,
and
attending
the
boat-races
in
festive
attire
to
which
she
had
devoted
the
most
anxious
attention
for
Robert
's
sake
,
and
which
made
her
,
dear
,
good
,
impracticable
soul
,
the
observed
of
all
observers
.
When
she
came
she
and
Robert
talked
all
day
,
so
far
as
lectures
allowed
,
and
most
of
the
night
,
after
their
own
eager
,
improvident
fashion
;
and
she
soon
gathered
,
with
that
solemn
,
half-tragic
sense
of
change
which
besets
a
mother
's
heart
at
such
a
moment
,
that
there
were
many
new
forces
at
work
in
her
boy
's
mind
,
deep
under-currents
of
feeling
,
stirred
in
him
by
the
Oxford
influences
,
which
must
before
long
rise
powerfully
to
the
surface
.
He
was
passing
from
a
bright
buoyant
lad
into
a
man
,
and
a
man
of
ardour
and
conviction
.
And
the
chief
instrument
in
the
transformation
was
Mr.
Grey
.
Elsmere
got
his
first
in
Moderations
easily
.
But
the
Final
Schools
were
a
different
matter
.
In
the
first
days
of
his
return
to
Oxford
,
in
the
October
of
his
third
year
,
while
he
was
still
making
up
his
lecture
list
,
and
taking
a
general
oversight
of
the
work
demanded
from
him
,
before
plunging
definitely
into
it
,
he
was
oppressed
with
a
sense
that
the
two
years
lying
before
him
constituted
a
problem
which
would
be
harder
to
solve
than
any
which
had
yet
been
set
him
.
It
seemed
to
him
in
a
moment
which
was
one
of
some
slackness
and
reaction
,
that
he
had
been
growing
too
fast
.
He
had
been
making
friends
besides
in
far
too
many
camps
,
and
the
thought
,
half
attractive
,
half
repellent
,
of
all
those
midnight
discussions
over
smouldering
fires
,
which
Oxford
was
preparing
for
him
,
those
fascinating
moments
of
intellectual
fence
with
minds
as
eager
and
as
crude
as
his
own
,
and
of
all
the
delightful
dipping
into
the
very
latest
literature
,
which
such
moments
encouraged
and
involved
,
seemed
to
convey
a
sort
of
warning
to
the
boy
's
will
that
it
was
not
equal
to
the
situation
.
He
was
neither
dull
enough
nor
great
enough
for
a
striking
Oxford
success
.
How
was
he
to
prevent
himself
from
attempting
impossibilities
and
achieving
a
final
mediocrity
?
He
felt
a
dismal
certainty
that
he
should
never
be
able
to
control
the
strayings
of
will
and
curiosity
,
now
into
this
path
,
now
into
that
;
and
a
still
stronger
and
genuine
certainty
that
it
is
not
by
such
digression
that
a
man
gets
up
the
Ethics
or
the
Annals
.
Langham
watched
him
with
a
half
irritable
attention
.
In
spite
of
the
paralysis
of
all
natural
ambitions
in
himself
,
he
was
illogically
keen
that
Elsmere
should
win
the
distinctions
of
the
place
.
He
,
the
most
laborious
,
the
most
disinterested
of
scholars
,
turned
himself
almost
into
a
crammer
for
Elsmere
's
benefit
.
He
abused
the
lad
's
multifarious
reading
,
declared
it
was
no
better
than
dram-drinking
,
and
even
preached
to
him
an
ingenious
variety
of
mechanical
aids
to
memory
and
short
cuts
to
knowledge
,
till
Robert
would
turn
round
upon
him
with
some
triumphant
retort
drawn
from
his
own
utterances
at
some
sincerer
and
less
discreet
moment
.
In
vain
.
Langham
felt
a
dismal
certainty
before
many
weeks
were
over
that
Elsmere
would
miss
his
first
in
Greats
.
He
was
too
curious
,
too
restless
,
too
passionate
about
many
things
.
Above
all
he
was
beginning
,
in
the
tutor
's
opinion
,
to
concern
himself
disastrously
early
with
that
most
overwhelming
and
most
brain-confusing
of
all
human
interests
—
the
interest
of
religion
.
Grey
had
made
him
'
earnest
'
with
a
vengeance
.
Elsmere
was
now
attending
Grey
's
philosophical
lectures
,
following
them
with
enthusiasm
,
and
making
use
of
them
,
as
so
often
happens
,
for
the
defence
and
fortification
of
views
quite
other
than
his
teacher
's
.
The
whole
basis
of
Grey
's
thought
was
ardently
idealist
and
Hegelian
.
He
had
broken
with
the
popular
Christianity
,
but
for
him
,
God
,
consciousness
,
duty
,
were
the
only
realities
.
None
of
the
various
forms
of
materialist
thought
escaped
his
challenge
;
no
genuine
utterance
of
the
spiritual
life
of
man
but
was
sure
of
his
sympathy
.
It
was
known
that
after
having
prepared
himself
for
the
Christian
ministry
he
had
remained
a
layman
because
it
had
become
impossible
to
him
to
accept
miracle
;
and
it
was
evident
that
the
commoner
type
of
Churchmen
regarded
him
as
an
antagonist
all
the
more
dangerous
because
he
was
so
sympathetic
.
But
the
negative
and
critical
side
of
him
was
what
in
reality
told
least
upon
his
pupils
.
He
was
reserved
,
he
talked
with
difficulty
,
and
his
respect
for
the
immaturity
of
the
young
lives
near
him
was
complete
.
So
that
what
he
sowed
others
often
reaped
,
or
to
quote
the
expression
of
a
well-known
rationalist
about
him
:
'
The
Tories
were
always
carrying
off
his
honey
to
their
hive
.
'
Elsmere
,
for
instance
,
took
in
all
that
Grey
had
to
give
,
drank
in
all
the
ideal
fervour
,
the
spiritual
enthusiasm
of
the
great
tutor
,
and
then
,
as
Grey
himself
would
have
done
some
twenty
years
earlier
,
carried
his
religious
passion
so
stimulated
into
the
service
of
the
great
positive
tradition
around
him
.
And
at
that
particular
moment
in
Oxford
history
,
the
passage
from
philosophic
idealism
to
glad
acquiescence
in
the
received
Christian
system
,
was
a
peculiarly
easy
one
.
It
was
the
most
natural
thing
in
the
world
that
a
young
man
of
Elsmere
's
temperament
should
rally
to
the
Church
.
The
place
was
passing
through
one
of
those
periodical
crises
of
reaction
against
an
overdriven
rationalism
,
which
show
themselves
with
tolerable
regularity
in
any
great
centre
of
intellectual
activity
.
It
had
begun
to
be
recognised
with
a
great
burst
of
enthusiasm
and
astonishment
,
that
,
after
all
,
Mill
and
Herbert
Spencer
had
not
said
the
last
word
on
all
things
in
heaven
and
earth
.
And
now
there
was
exaggerated
recoil
.
A
fresh
wave
of
religious
romanticism
was
fast
gathering
strength
;
the
spirit
of
Newman
had
reappeared
in
the
place
which
Newman
had
loved
and
left
;
religion
was
becoming
once
more
popular
among
the
most
trivial
souls
,
and
a
deep
reality
among
a
large
proportion
of
the
nobler
ones
.
With
this
movement
of
opinion
Robert
had
very
soon
found
himself
in
close
and
sympathetic
contact
.
The
meagre
impression
left
upon
his
boyhood
by
the
somewhat
grotesque
succession
of
the
Harden
curates
,
and
by
his
mothers
shafts
of
wit
at
their
expense
,
was
soon
driven
out
of
him
by
the
stateliness
and
comely
beauty
of
the
Church
order
as
it
was
revealed
to
him
at
Oxford
.
The
religious
air
,
the
solemn
beauty
of
the
place
itself
,
its
innumerable
associations
with
an
organised
and
venerable
faith
,
the
great
public
functions
and
expressions
of
that
faith
,
possessed
the
boy
's
imagination
more
and
more
.
As
he
sat
in
the
undergraduates
'
gallery
at
St.
Mary
's
on
the
Sundays
,
when
the
great
High
Church
preacher
of
the
moment
occupied
the
pulpit
,
and
looked
down
on
the
crowded
building
,
full
of
grave
black-gowned
figures
,
and
framed
in
one
continuous
belt
of
closely
packed
boyish
faces
;
as
he
listened
to
the
preacher
's
vibrating
voice
,
rising
and
falling
with
the
orator
's
instinct
for
musical
effect
;
or
as
he
stood
up
with
the
great
surrounding
body
of
undergraduates
to
send
the
melody
of
some
Latin
hymn
rolling
into
the
far
recesses
of
the
choir
,
the
sight
and
the
experience
touched
his
inmost
feeling
,
and
satisfied
all
the
poetical
and
dramatic
instincts
of
a
passionate
nature
.
The
system
behind
the
sight
took
stronger
and
stronger
hold
upon
him
;
he
began
to
wish
ardently
and
continuously
to
become
a
part
of
it
,
to
cast
in
his
lot
definitely
with
it
.
One
May
evening
he
was
wandering
by
himself
along
the
towing-path
which
skirts
the
upper
river
,
a
prey
to
many
thoughts
,
to
forebodings
about
the
schools
which
were
to
begin
in
three
weeks
,
and
to
speculations
as
to
how
his
mother
would
take
the
news
of
the
second
class
,
which
he
himself
felt
to
be
inevitable
.
Suddenly
,
for
no
apparent
reason
,
there
flashed
into
his
mind
the
little
conversation
with
his
mother
,
which
had
taken
place
nearly
four
years
before
,
in
the
garden
at
Trinity
.
He
remembered
the
antagonism
which
the
idea
of
a
clerical
life
for
him
had
raised
in
both
of
them
,
and
a
smile
at
his
own
ignorance
and
his
mother
's
prejudice
passed
over
his
quick
young
face
.
He
sat
down
on
the
grassy
bank
,
a
mass
of
reeds
at
his
feet
,
the
shadows
of
the
poplars
behind
him
lying
across
the
still
river
;
and
opposite
,
the
wide
green
expanse
of
the
great
town-meadow
,
dotted
with
white
patches
of
geese
and
herds
of
grazing
horses
.
There
,
with
a
sense
of
something
solemn
and
critical
passing
over
him
,
he
began
to
dream
out
his
future
life
.
And
when
he
rose
half
an
hour
afterwards
,
and
turned
his
steps
homewards
,
he
knew
with
an
inward
tremor
of
heart
that
the
next
great
step
of
the
way
was
practically
taken
.
For
there
by
the
gliding
river
,
and
in
view
of
the
distant
Oxford
spires
,
which
his
fancy
took
to
witness
the
act
,
he
had
vowed
himself
in
prayer
and
self-abasement
to
the
ministry
of
the
Church
.
During
the
three
weeks
that
followed
he
made
some
frantic
efforts
to
make
up
lost
ground
.
He
had
not
been
idle
for
a
single
day
,
but
he
had
been
unwise
,
an
intellectual
spendthrift
,
living
in
a
continuous
succession
of
enthusiasms
,
and
now
at
the
critical
moment
his
stock
of
nerve
and
energy
was
at
a
low
ebb
.
He
went
in
depressed
and
tired
,
his
friends
watching
anxiously
for
the
result
.
On
the
day
of
the
Logic
paper
,
as
he
emerged
into
the
Schools
quadrangle
,
he
felt
his
arm
caught
by
Mr.
Grey
.
'
Come
with
me
for
a
walk
,
Elsmere
;
you
look
as
if
some
air
would
do
you
good
.
'
Robert
acquiesced
,
and
the
two
men
turned
into
the
passage
way
leading
out
on
to
Radcliffe
Square
.
'
I
have
done
for
myself
,
sir
,
'
said
the
youth
with
a
sigh
,
half
impatience
,
half
depression
.
'
It
seems
to
me
to-day
that
I
had
neither
mind
nor
memory
.
If
I
get
a
second
I
shall
be
lucky
.
'
'
Oh
,
you
will
get
your
second
whatever
happens
,
'
said
Mr.
Grey
quietly
,
'
and
you
must
n't
be
too
much
cast
down
about
it
if
you
do
n't
get
your
first
.
'
This
implied
acceptance
of
his
partial
defeat
,
coming
from
another
's
lips
,
struck
the
excitable
Robert
like
a
lash
.
It
was
only
what
he
had
been
saying
to
himself
,
but
in
the
most
pessimist
forecasts
we
make
for
ourselves
,
there
is
always
an
under
protest
of
hope
.
'
I
have
been
wasting
my
time
here
lately
,
'
he
said
,
hurriedly
raising
his
college
cap
from
his
brows
as
if
it
oppressed
them
,
and
pushing
his
hair
back
with
a
weary
restless
gesture
.
'
No
,
'
said
Mr.
Grey
,
turning
his
kind
frank
eyes
upon
him
.
'
As
far
as
general
training
goes
,
you
have
not
wasted
your
time
at
all
.
There
are
many
clever
men
who
do
n't
get
a
first
class
,
and
yet
it
is
good
for
them
to
be
here
—
so
long
as
they
are
not
loungers
and
idlers
,
of
course
.
And
you
have
not
been
a
lounger
;
you
have
been
headstrong
,
and
a
little
over-confident
,
perhaps
,
'
—
the
speaker
's
smile
took
all
the
sting
out
of
the
words
—
'
but
you
have
grown
into
a
man
,
and
you
are
fit
now
for
man
's
work
.
Do
n't
let
yourself
be
depressed
,
Elsmere
.
You
will
do
better
in
life
than
you
have
done
in
examination
.
'
The
young
man
was
deeply
touched
.
This
tone
of
personal
comment
and
admonition
was
very
rare
with
Mr.
Grey
.
He
felt
a
sudden
consciousness
of
a
shared
burden
which
was
infinitely
soothing
,
and
though
he
made
no
answer
,
his
face
lost
something
of
its
harassed
look
as
the
two
walked
on
together
down
Oriel
Street
and
into
Merton
Meadows
.
'
Have
you
any
immediate
plans
?
'
said
Mr.
Grey
,
as
they
turned
into
the
Broad
Walk
,
now
in
the
full
leafage
of
June
,
and
rustling
under
a
brisk
western
wind
blowing
from
the
river
.
'
No
;
at
least
I
suppose
it
will
be
no
good
my
trying
for
a
fellowship
.
But
I
meant
to
tell
you
,
sir
,
of
one
thing
—
I
have
made
up
my
mind
to
take
orders
.
'
'
You
have
?
When
?
'
'
Quite
lately
.
So
that
fixes
me
,
I
suppose
,
to
come
back
for
divinity
lectures
in
the
autumn
.
'
Mr.
Grey
said
nothing
for
a
while
,
and
they
strolled
in
and
out
of
the
great
shadows
thrown
by
the
elms
across
their
path
.
'
You
feel
no
difficulties
in
the
way
?
'
he
asked
at
last
,
with
a
certain
quick
brusqueness
of
manner
.
'
No
,
'
said
Robert
eagerly
.
'
I
never
had
any
.
Perhaps
,
'
he
added
,
with
a
sudden
humility
,
'
it
is
because
I
have
never
gone
deep
enough
.
What
I
believe
might
have
been
worth
more
if
I
had
had
more
struggle
;
but
it
has
all
seemed
so
plain
.
'
The
young
voice
speaking
with
hesitation
and
reserve
,
and
yet
with
a
deep
inner
conviction
,
was
pleasant
to
hear
.
Mr.
Grey
turned
towards
it
,
and
the
great
eyes
under
the
furrowed
brow
had
a
peculiar
gentleness
of
expression
.
'
You
will
probably
be
very
happy
in
the
life
,
'
he
said
.
'
The
Church
wants
men
of
your
sort
.
'
But
through
all
the
sympathy
of
the
tone
Robert
was
conscious
of
a
veil
between
them
.
He
knew
,
of
course
,
pretty
much
what
it
was
,
and
with
a
sudden
impulse
he
felt
that
he
would
have
given
worlds
to
break
through
it
and
talk
frankly
with
this
man
whom
he
revered
beyond
all
others
,
wide
as
was
the
intellectual
difference
between
them
.
But
the
tutor
's
reticence
and
the
younger
man
's
respect
prevented
it
.
When
the
unlucky
second
class
was
actually
proclaimed
to
the
world
,
Langham
took
it
to
heart
perhaps
more
than
either
Elsmere
or
his
mother
.
No
one
knew
better
than
he
what
Elsmere
's
gifts
were
.
It
was
absurd
that
he
should
not
have
made
more
of
them
in
sight
of
the
public
.
'
Le
cléricalisme
,
voilà
l'ennemi
!
'
was
about
the
gist
of
Langham
's
mood
during
the
days
that
followed
on
the
class
list
.
Elsmere
,
however
,
did
not
divulge
his
intention
of
taking
orders
to
him
till
ten
days
afterwards
,
when
he
had
carried
off
Langham
to
stay
at
Harden
,
and
he
and
his
old
tutor
were
smoking
in
his
mother
's
little
garden
one
moonlit
night
.
When
he
had
finished
his
statement
Langham
stood
still
a
moment
watching
the
wreaths
of
smoke
as
they
curled
and
vanished
.
The
curious
interest
in
Elsmere
's
career
,
which
during
a
certain
number
of
months
had
made
him
almost
practical
,
almost
energetic
,
had
disappeared
.
He
was
his
own
languid
,
paradoxical
self
.
'
Well
,
after
all
,
'
he
said
at
last
,
very
slowly
,
'
the
difficulty
lies
in
preaching
anything
.
One
may
as
well
preach
a
respectable
mythology
as
anything
else
.
'
'
What
do
you
mean
by
a
mythology
?
'
cried
Robert
hotly
.
'
Simply
ideas
,
or
experiences
,
personified
,
'
said
Langham
,
puffing
away
.
'
I
take
it
they
are
the
subject-matter
of
all
theologies
.
'
'
I
do
n't
understand
you
,
'
said
Robert
,
flushing
.
'
To
the
Christian
,
facts
have
been
the
medium
by
which
ideas
the
world
could
not
otherwise
have
come
at
have
been
communicated
to
man
.
Christian
theology
is
a
system
of
ideas
indeed
,
but
of
ideas
realised
,
made
manifest
in
facts
.
'
Langham
looked
at
him
for
a
moment
,
undecided
;
then
that
suppressed
irritation
we
have
already
spoken
of
broke
through
.
'
How
do
you
know
they
are
facts
?
'
he
said
drily
.
The
younger
man
took
up
the
challenge
with
all
his
natural
eagerness
,
and
the
conversation
resolved
itself
into
a
discussion
of
Christian
evidences
.
Or
rather
Robert
held
forth
,
and
Langham
kept
him
going
by
an
occasional
remark
which
acted
like
the
prick
of
a
spur
.
The
tutor
's
psychological
curiosity
was
soon
satisfied
.
He
declared
to
himself
that
the
intellect
had
precious
little
to
do
with
Elsmere
's
Christianity
.
He
had
got
hold
of
all
the
stock
apologetic
arguments
,
and
used
them
,
his
companion
admitted
,
with
ability
and
ingenuity
.
But
they
were
merely
the
outworks
of
the
citadel
.
The
inmost
fortress
was
held
by
something
wholly
distinct
from
intellectual
conviction
—
by
moral
passion
,
by
love
,
by
feeling
,
by
that
mysticism
,
in
short
,
which
no
healthy
youth
should
be
without
.
'
He
imagines
he
has
satisfied
his
intellect
,
'
was
the
inward
comment
of
one
of
the
most
melancholy
of
sceptics
,
'
and
he
has
never
so
much
as
exerted
it
.
What
a
brute
I
am
to
protest
!
'
And
suddenly
Langham
threw
up
the
sponge
.
He
held
out
his
hand
to
his
companion
,
a
momentary
gleam
of
tenderness
in
his
black
eyes
,
such
as
on
one
or
two
critical
occasions
before
had
disarmed
the
impetuous
Elsmere
.
'
No
use
to
discuss
it
further
.
You
have
a
strong
case
,
of
course
,
and
you
have
put
it
well
.
Only
,
when
you
are
pegging
away
at
reforming
and
enlightening
the
world
,
do
n't
trample
too
much
on
the
people
who
have
more
than
enough
to
do
to
enlighten
themselves
.
'
As
to
Mrs.
Elsmere
,
in
this
new
turn
of
her
son
's
fortunes
,
she
realised
with
humorous
distinctness
that
for
some
years
past
Robert
had
been
educating
her
as
well
as
himself
.
Her
old
rebellious
sense
of
something
inherently
absurd
in
the
clerical
status
had
been
gradually
slain
in
her
by
her
long
contact
through
him
with
the
finer
and
more
imposing
aspects
of
church
life
.
She
was
still
on
light
skirmishing
terms
with
the
Harden
curates
,
and
at
times
she
would
flame
out
into
the
wildest
,
wittiest
threats
and
gibes
,
for
the
momentary
satisfaction
of
her
own
essentially
lay
instincts
;
but
at
bottom
she
knew
perfectly
well
that
,
when
the
moment
came
,
no
mother
could
be
more
loyal
,
more
easily
imposed
upon
,
than
she
would
be
.
'
I
suppose
,
then
,
Robert
,
we
shall
be
back
at
Murewell
before
very
long
,
'
she
said
to
him
one
morning
abruptly
,
studying
him
the
while
out
of
her
small
twinkling
eyes
.
What
dignity
there
was
already
in
the
young
lightly-built
frame
!
what
frankness
and
character
in
the
irregular
,
attractive
face
!
'
Mother
,
'
cried
Elsmere
indignantly
,
'
what
do
you
take
me
for
?
Do
you
imagine
I
am
going
to
bury
myself
in
the
country
at
five
or
six-and-twenty
,
take
six
hundred
a
year
,
and
nothing
to
do
for
it
?
That
would
be
a
deserter
's
act
indeed
.
'
Mrs.
Elsmere
shrugged
her
shoulders
.
'
Oh
,
I
supposed
you
would
insist
on
killing
yourself
,
to
begin
with
.
To
most
people
nowadays
that
seems
to
be
the
necessary
preliminary
of
a
useful
career
.
'
Robert
laughed
and
kissed
her
,
but
her
question
had
stirred
him
so
much
that
he
sat
down
that
very
evening
to
write
to
his
cousin
Mowbray
Elsmere
.
He
announced
to
him
that
he
was
about
to
read
for
orders
,
and
that
at
the
same
time
he
relinquished
all
claim
on
the
living
of
Murewell
.
'
Do
what
you
like
with
it
when
it
falls
vacant
,
'
he
wrote
,
'
without
reference
to
me
.
My
views
are
strong
that
before
a
clergyman
in
health
and
strength
,
and
in
no
immediate
want
of
money
,
allows
himself
the
luxury
of
a
country
parish
,
he
is
bound
,
for
some
years
at
any
rate
,
to
meet
the
challenge
of
evil
and
poverty
where
the
fight
is
hardest
—
among
our
English
town
population
.
'
Sir
Mowbray
Elsmere
replied
curtly
in
a
day
or
two
to
the
effect
that
Robert
's
letter
seemed
to
him
superfluous
.
He
,
Sir
Mowbray
,
had
nothing
to
do
with
his
cousin
's
views
.
When
the
living
was
vacant
—
the
present
holder
,
however
,
was
uncommon
tough
and
did
not
mean
dying
—
he
should
follow
out
the
instructions
of
his
father
's
will
,
and
if
Robert
did
not
want
the
thing
he
could
say
so
.
In
the
autumn
Robert
and
his
mother
went
back
to
Oxford
.
The
following
spring
he
redeemed
his
Oxford
reputation
completely
by
winning
a
Fellowship
at
Merton
after
a
brilliant
fight
with
some
of
the
best
men
of
his
year
,
and
in
June
he
was
ordained
.
In
the
summer
term
some
teaching
work
was
offered
him
at
Merton
,
and
by
Mr.
Grey
's
advice
he
accepted
it
,
thus
postponing
for
a
while
that
London
curacy
and
that
stout
grapple
with
human
need
at
its
sorest
for
which
his
soul
was
pining
.
'
Stay
here
a
year
or
two
,
'
Grey
said
bluntly
;
'
you
are
at
the
beginning
of
your
best
learning
time
,
and
you
are
not
one
of
the
natures
who
can
do
without
books
.
You
will
be
all
the
better
worth
having
afterwards
,
and
there
is
no
lack
of
work
here
for
a
man
's
moral
energies
.
'
Langham
took
the
same
line
,
and
Elsmere
submitted
.
Three
happy
and
fruitful
years
followed
.
The
young
lecturer
developed
an
amazing
power
of
work
.
That
concentration
which
he
had
been
unable
to
achieve
for
himself
his
will
was
strong
enough
to
maintain
when
it
was
a
question
of
meeting
the
demands
of
a
college
class
in
which
he
was
deeply
interested
.
He
became
a
stimulating
and
successful
teacher
,
and
one
of
the
most
popular
of
men
.
His
passionate
sense
of
responsibility
towards
his
pupils
made
him
load
himself
with
burdens
to
which
he
was
constantly
physically
unequal
,
and
fill
the
vacations
almost
as
full
as
the
terms
.
And
as
he
was
comparatively
a
man
of
means
,
his
generous
impetuous
temper
was
able
to
gratify
itself
in
ways
that
would
have
been
impossible
to
others
.
The
story
of
his
summer
reading
parties
,
for
instance
,
if
one
could
have
unravelled
it
,
would
have
been
found
to
be
one
long
string
of
acts
of
kindness
towards
men
poorer
and
duller
than
himself
.
At
the
same
time
he
formed
close
and
eager
relations
with
the
heads
of
the
religious
party
in
Oxford
.
His
mother
's
Evangelical
training
of
him
and
Mr.
Grey
's
influence
,
together
,
perhaps
,
with
certain
drifts
of
temperament
,
prevented
him
from
becoming
a
High
Churchman
.
The
sacramental
,
ceremonial
view
of
the
Church
never
took
hold
upon
him
.
But
to
the
English
Church
as
a
great
national
institution
for
the
promotion
of
God
's
work
on
earth
no
one
could
have
been
more
deeply
loyal
,
and
none
coming
close
to
him
could
mistake
the
fervour
and
passion
of
his
Christian
feeling
.
At
the
same
time
he
did
not
know
what
rancour
or
bitterness
meant
,
so
that
men
of
all
shades
of
Christian
belief
reckoned
a
friend
in
him
,
and
he
went
through
life
surrounded
by
an
unusual
,
perhaps
a
dangerous
amount
of
liking
and
affection
.
He
threw
himself
ardently
into
the
charitable
work
of
Oxford
,
now
helping
a
High
Church
vicar
,
and
now
toiling
with
Grey
and
one
or
two
other
Liberal
fellows
,
at
the
maintenance
of
a
coffee-palace
and
lecture-room
just
started
by
them
in
one
of
the
suburbs
;
while
in
the
second
year
of
his
lectureship
the
success
of
some
first
attempts
at
preaching
fixed
the
attention
of
the
religious
leaders
upon
him
as
upon
a
man
certain
to
make
his
mark
.
So
the
three
years
passed
—
years
not
,
perhaps
,
of
great
intellectual
advance
,
for
other
forces
in
him
than
those
of
the
intellect
were
mainly
to
the
fore
,
but
years
certainly
of
continuous
growth
in
character
and
moral
experience
.
And
at
the
end
of
them
Mowbray
Elsmere
made
his
offer
,
and
it
was
accepted
.
The
secret
of
it
,
of
course
,
was
overwork
.
Mrs.
Elsmere
,
from
the
little
house
in
Merton
Street
,
where
she
had
established
herself
,
had
watched
her
boy
's
meteoric
career
through
these
crowded
months
with
very
frequent
misgivings
.
No
one
knew
better
than
she
that
Robert
was
constitutionally
not
of
the
toughest
fibre
,
and
she
realised
long
before
he
did
that
the
Oxford
life
as
he
was
bent
on
leading
it
must
end
for
him
in
premature
breakdown
.
But
,
as
always
happens
,
neither
her
remonstrances
,
nor
Mr.
Grey
's
common-sense
,
nor
Langham
's
fidgety
protests
had
any
effect
on
the
young
enthusiast
to
whom
self-slaughter
came
so
easy
.
During
the
latter
half
of
his
third
year
of
teaching
he
was
continually
being
sent
away
by
the
doctors
,
and
coming
back
only
to
break
down
again
.
At
last
,
in
the
January
of
his
fourth
year
,
the
collapse
became
so
decided
that
he
consented
,
bribed
by
the
prospect
of
the
Holy
Land
,
to
go
away
for
three
months
to
Egypt
and
the
East
,
accompanied
by
his
mother
and
a
college
friend
.
Just
before
their
departure
news
reached
him
of
the
death
of
the
rector
of
Murewell
,
followed
by
a
formal
offer
of
the
living
from
Sir
Mowbray
.
At
the
moment
when
the
letter
arrived
he
was
feeling
desperately
tired
and
ill
,
and
in
after-life
he
never
forgot
the
half-superstitious
thrill
and
deep
sense
of
depression
with
which
he
received
it
.
For
within
him
was
a
slowly-emerging
,
despairing
conviction
that
he
was
indeed
physically
unequal
to
the
claims
of
his
Oxford
work
,
and
if
so
,
still
more
unequal
to
grappling
with
the
hardest
pastoral
labour
and
the
worst
forms
of
English
poverty
.
And
the
coincidence
of
the
Murewell
incumbent
's
death
struck
his
sensitive
mind
as
a
Divine
leading
.
But
it
was
a
painful
defeat
.
He
took
the
letter
to
Grey
,
and
Grey
strongly
advised
him
to
accept
.
'
You
overdrive
your
scruples
,
Elsmere
,
'
said
the
Liberal
tutor
with
emphasis
.
'
No
one
can
say
a
living
with
1200
souls
,
and
no
curate
,
is
a
sinecure
.
As
for
hard
town
work
,
it
is
absurd
—
you
could
n't
stand
it
.
And
after
all
,
I
imagine
,
there
are
some
souls
worth
saving
out
of
the
towns
.
'
Elsmere
pointed
out
vindictively
that
family
livings
were
a
corrupt
and
indefensible
institution
.
Mr.
Grey
replied
calmly
that
they
probably
were
,
but
that
the
fact
did
not
affect
,
so
far
as
he
could
see
,
Elsmere
's
competence
to
fulfil
all
the
duties
of
rector
of
Murewell
.
'
After
all
,
my
dear
fellow
,
'
he
said
,
a
smile
breaking
over
his
strong
expressive
face
,
'
it
is
well
even
for
reformers
to
be
sane
.
'
Mrs.
Elsmere
was
passive
.
It
seemed
to
her
that
she
had
foreseen
it
all
along
.
She
was
miserable
about
his
health
,
but
she
too
had
a
moment
of
superstition
,
and
would
not
urge
him
.
Murewell
was
no
name
of
happy
omen
to
her
—
she
had
passed
the
darkest
hours
of
her
life
there
.
In
the
end
Robert
asked
for
delay
,
which
was
grudgingly
granted
him
.
Then
he
and
his
mother
and
friend
fled
over
seas
:
he
feverishly
determined
to
get
well
and
cheat
the
fates
.
But
,
after
a
halcyon
time
in
Palestine
and
Constantinople
,
a
whiff
of
poisoned
air
at
Cannes
,
on
their
way
home
,
acting
on
a
low
constitutional
state
,
settled
matters
.
Robert
was
laid
up
for
weeks
with
malarious
fever
,
and
when
he
struggled
out
again
into
the
hot
Riviera
sunshine
it
was
clear
to
himself
and
everybody
else
that
he
must
do
what
he
could
,
and
not
what
he
would
,
in
the
Christian
vineyard
.
'
Mother
,
'
he
said
one
day
,
suddenly
looking
up
at
her
as
she
sat
near
him
working
,
'
can
you
be
happy
at
Murewell
?
'
There
was
a
wistfulness
in
the
long
thin
face
,
and
a
pathetic
accent
of
surrender
in
the
voice
,
which
hurt
the
mother
's
heart
.
'
I
can
be
happy
wherever
you
are
,
'
she
said
,
laying
her
brown
nervous
hand
on
his
blanched
one
.
'
Then
give
me
pen
and
paper
and
let
me
write
to
Mowbray
.
I
wonder
whether
the
place
has
changed
at
all
.
Heigh
ho
!
How
is
one
to
preach
to
people
who
have
stuffed
you
up
with
gooseberries
,
or
swung
you
on
gates
,
or
lifted
you
over
puddles
to
save
your
petticoats
?
I
wonder
what
has
become
of
that
boy
whom
I
hit
in
the
eye
with
my
bow
and
arrow
,
or
of
that
other
lout
who
pummelled
me
into
the
middle
of
next
week
for
disturbing
his
bird-trap
?
By
the
way
,
is
the
Squire
—
is
Roger
Wendover
—
living
at
the
Hall
now
?
'
He
turned
to
his
mother
with
a
sudden
start
of
interest
.
'
So
I
hear
,
'
said
Mrs.
Elsmere
drily
.
'
He
wo
n't
be
much
good
to
you
.
'
He
sat
on
meditating
while
she
went
for
pen
and
paper
.
He
had
forgotten
the
Squire
of
Murewell
.
But
Roger
Wendover
,
the
famous
and
eccentric
owner
of
Murewell
Hall
,
hermit
and
scholar
,
possessed
of
one
of
the
most
magnificent
libraries
in
England
,
and
author
of
books
which
had
carried
a
revolutionary
shock
into
the
heart
of
English
society
,
was
not
a
figure
to
be
overlooked
by
any
rector
of
Murewell
,
least
of
all
by
one
possessed
of
Robert
's
culture
and
imagination
.
The
young
man
ransacked
his
memory
on
the
subject
with
a
sudden
access
of
interest
in
his
new
home
that
was
to
be
.
Six
weeks
later
they
were
in
England
,
and
Robert
,
now
convalescent
,
had
accepted
an
invitation
to
spend
a
month
in
Long
Whindale
with
his
mother
's
cousins
,
the
Thornburghs
,
who
offered
him
quiet
,
and
bracing
air
.
He
was
to
enter
on
his
duties
at
Murewell
in
July
,
the
bishop
,
who
had
been
made
aware
of
his
Oxford
reputation
,
welcoming
the
new
recruit
to
the
diocese
with
marked
warmth
of
manner
.
CHAPTER
VI
'
Agnes
,
if
you
want
any
tea
,
here
it
is
,
'
cried
Rose
,
calling
from
outside
through
the
dining-room
window
;
'
and
tell
mamma
.
'
It
was
the
first
of
June
,
and
the
spell
of
warmth
in
which
Robert
Elsmere
had
arrived
was
still
maintaining
itself
.
An
intelligent
foreigner
dropped
into
the
flower-sprinkled
valley
might
have
believed
that
,
after
all
,
England
,
and
even
Northern
England
,
had
a
summer
.
Early
in
the
season
as
it
was
,
the
sun
was
already
drawing
the
colour
out
of
the
hills
;
the
young
green
,
hardly
a
week
or
two
old
,
was
darkening
.
Except
the
oaks
.
They
were
brilliance
itself
against
the
luminous
gray-blue
sky
.
So
were
the
beeches
,
their
young
downy
leaves
just
unpacked
,
tumbling
loosely
open
to
the
light
.
But
the
larches
and
the
birches
and
the
hawthorns
were
already
sobered
by
a
longer
acquaintance
with
life
and
Phœbus
.
Rose
sat
fanning
herself
with
a
portentous
hat
,
which
when
in
its
proper
place
served
her
,
apparently
,
both
as
hat
and
as
parasol
.
She
seemed
to
have
been
running
races
with
a
fine
collie
,
who
lay
at
her
feet
panting
,
but
studying
her
with
his
bright
eyes
,
and
evidently
ready
to
be
off
again
at
the
first
indication
that
his
playmate
had
recovered
her
wind
.
Chattie
was
coming
lazily
over
the
lawn
,
stretching
each
leg
behind
her
as
she
