Born in Exile

er, Peak went over to her, and was pleased with the smile he met. Fanny had watched eyes, much brighter than Sidwell's; her youthful vivacity blended with an odd little fashion of schoolgirl pedan

ently, 'that I should disturb

ten go and sit in the

show me

gh a sort of anteroom connecting with a fernery, and came to the stu

you are bringing Mr. P

etached bookcases occupied other portions of the irregular perimeter. Cabinets, closed and open, were arranged with due regard to convenience. Above the mantelpiece hung a few small photographs, but the wall-space at di

icled. Though his sympathy was genuine enough, Godwin struggled against an uneasy sense of manifesting excessive appreciation. Never oblivious of himself, he could not utter the simplest phrase of admiration without criticising its justice, its tone. And at present it behoved him to bear in mind that he was conversing with no half-bred sciolist. Mr Warricombe obviously had his share of human weakness, but he was at once a gentleman and a student of well-stored mind; insincerity must be very careful if it would not jar upon his refined ear. So Godw

do notable work amid such surroundings! If I were but thus equipped for investigation!' And as often as his eyes left a parti

with a humorous twinkle in his eyes, inquired whet

day-an old attempt of mine to write about the weathering of rocks. It was printed in '76, and no sooner had it seen the light than friends of mine wanted to know what I meant by appropriating, without acknowledgement, certain facts quite recently poin

over the pages, mu

ante nos nost

iness which was one of his pleasant characteristics. And, after a

ometimes I return to t

als is a hexameter-did you know it?-and when I had once got hold of the book I thought it a shabby thing to return it to the dust of its shelf without read

differed

l sincere in all he says about them. Tim

er, and only the warning dinner-bell put an end to their sympathetic discu

ou your room?' Mr.

face of his eldest son

ave safely ar

ers of houses such as this. Merely to step upon the carpet fluttered his senses: merely to breathe the air was a purification. Luxury of the rational kind, dictated by regard for health of body and soul, appeared in

e. As for his visage, might he not console himself with the assurance that it was of no common stamp? 'If I met that man in a room, I should be curious about him; I should see at once that he didn't belong to the vulgar; I should desire to hear him speak.' And t

between him and the other guests. But he could not like his hostess; he thought her unworthy to be the mother of Sidwell and Fanny, of Buckland and Louis; there was a marked strain of the commonplace in her. The girls, costumed for the evening, affected him with a return of the

in the country, the Warricombes stood to him in quite a different relation from any that could have arisen had he met with them in London. There he would have been nothing more than a casual dinner-guest, welcomed for the hour and all but forgotten when he had said good-night. For years he had understood that London offered him no prospect of social advancement. But a night passed under this roof practically raised him to a level whence he surveyed a rich field of possible conquest. With the genial geologist he felt himself on excellent terms, and much of thi

nowledge of the world, and could boast of a free mind; but he lacked subtlety: a psychological problem would easily puzzle him. Mr. Warricombe's attainments were respectable, but what could be said of a man who had devoted his life to geology, and stil

m, but the world they represented was womanless, and so of flagrant imperfection. Of Marcella Moxey he could not think emotionally; indeed she emphasised by her personality the lack which caused his suffering. Sidwell Warricombe suggested, more completely than any woman he had yet observed, that companionship without which life

nt. Look at her, as she sat conversing with Moorhouse, soft candle-light upon her face; compare her on the one hand with an average emancipated girl, on the other with a daughter of the people. How unsatisfying was the former; the latter, how repulsive! Here one had the exquisite mean, the lady as England has perfected her towards th

o which sincerity would condemn him, only the worst elements of his character found nourishment and range; here he was humanised, made receptive of all gentle sympathies. Heroism might point him to an unending struggle with adverse conditions, but how was heroism possible without faith? Absolute faith he had none; he was essentially a negativist, guided by the mere relations of phenomena. Nothing easier than to contemn the mode of life represented by this wealthy middle class; but compare it with other existences conceivable by a thinking man,

elf by Mrs. Warricombe, with whom as y

f interest at the London t

replied, truthfully. 'It must be

ct you have hardly

lived there ten years, but am far from regarding London as my ho

s you think of

h of time. My wish is to settle somewhere in the

le surprise, but corrected h

y are long away from town, but I should have thought that country quietness

ted,' said Godwin. 'And then it depen

sip; rather, his mind accepted with gratitude this rare repose. He tasted something of the tranquil self-content which makes life so enjoyable when one has never seen a necessity for sha

nvited his guest to retire with him to a part of th

ch this morning; I have caught both of them nodding during th

o, at a time when Mr. Warricombe amused himself with photography. A few indications of its original purposes were still noticeable; an easel and a box of oil-colours showed that someone-doubtless of the younger generation-had

p, left unfolded. 'For the last year or two I think she has given it up. I'm afraid we are not strong in matters of art. Neither of the girls can play very well, though of course they both tinkle fo

slightingly of art,' said Godw

initions. What an interesting book Euclid is! Half a year ago, I was led by a talk with Moorhouse to go through some of the old "pr

thout betraying some p

und in mathematics, a man of original powers, but I never heard him make a remark of the slightest value on any other subject. N

his eyes fixed on a brillian

ems to be orthodox. True, we have never spoken on the subject, but-well, she goes to church, and carries prayer-books. I don't know how to expla

r untasted; his lips were drawn into an expression very unlike the laxity appropriate to pleasurabl

that a clear brain and religi

gave him a

e than usual. 'I say that Miss Moorhouse has undeniably a strong mind

Peak, in a voice that sounded like assumption of sup

a match to rekindle his weed, blew tumultuo

think about

at all,' Godwin replied, in a very clear

ked Buckland, good-naturedly, tho

an't see that a belief in the Christian religion i

ews have ch

jects, this

s

rricombe's lips. He gazed at the floor awh

without surprise, but it is too mu

ke me a long t

m closely, 'you were quite in sympathy wit

hing in my way of speaking t

perfectly in earnest, yet such talk had the oddest sound on your li

crossed, thumb and forefinger stroking his chin. 'I couldn'

enial condescension. Buckland seemed sensib

ave become strictly orthodox i

Godwin, 'that I hope bef

th made its whispering in the pines. Warricombe

-one of the brig

Peak, just glancin

hair; in this new position he was somewhat furt

but I can see that your mind has been developing powers in that directio

ou dou

nd you. To be sure, we have been parted for many

ed,' Godwin pu

nged. Thinking of you-as I have often enough done-I always kept the impression you made on me when we were both lads; you seemed most distinctly a modern mind-one of the most modern

supplied P

have to meditate much be

losophical studies?' said Godwin,

t for me, but I philosophise in a way. I thought

losophical speculation on the poi

g of the kind-unless you include Bis

icant inquiry. For a moment he smiled, but there f

said, with slow utterance, but still in a tone

next words had the accent of well-bred consid

s. They are altogether beyond my sphere. I was born an agnostic, and no subtlety of demonstration could incline me for a moment to theolog

u had not yet ripened-I saw it only as one of the possibilities of my life. Well, now, it's only too true that there's something of speculation in my purpose; I look to the Church, not only as a congenial sphere of activity, but as a means of subsistence. In a man of no fortune this is inevitable; I hope there is nothing to be ashamed of. Even if the conditions of the case allowed it, I shouldn't present myself for ordination forthwith; I must study and prepare myself in quietness. How the practical details will be

a suspicion precisely the opposite of that likely to be entertained by the listener, succeed

xiety. It isn't every day that the Church of England gets such

posal, and replied to it

be's advice. I'm afraid I must go on in my own way for a time. It will be a few

tand that your mind

qui

nd some day. When I first got hold of Newman's Apologia, I began to read it with the utmost eagerness, flattering myself that now at length I should understand how a man of brains could travel

anding such an objection,' said

ou are

of Buckland's hand was less fervent than at their meeting, but his manner no longer see

et invite him; a turbulence in his brain gave warning that it would be long before he slept. He wound up his watch; the hands

After leaning for five minutes at the open window, he felt a soothing effect from the air, and could think consecutively of the day's events. What had happened seemed to him incredible; it was as though he revived a mad dream, of ludicrous coherence. Since his display of rhetoric at

le baseness had he fallen? Happily, he had but to take leave of the Warricombe household, and

rited chastisement. Oh, thrice ignoble varlet! To pose with unctuous hypocrisy before people who had welcomed him under their roof, unquestioned, with all

ife-long result. Of a certainty, the Church numbered such men among her priests,-not mere lukewarm sceptics who made religion a source of income, nor yet those who had honestly entered the portal and by necessity were held from withdrawing, though their convictions had changed; but deliberate schemers from the first, ambitious but hungry n

of moral right and wrong! No wonder he felt like a whipped cur. It was the ancestral vice in his blood, brought out by over-tempting circumstance. The long

eaving its occupants to think of him as they would; even as, ten years ago, he had fled from the shame impending over him at Kingsmill. A cowardly instinct, this; having once acted upon it gav

was best; perhaps he might forget his shame for an hour or two, ere the dawn renewed it. He t