Watersprings

over his book, which seemed to him now to be illumined with a new light. It was this that he had been looking for, this gift of power; it was that which lay behind hi

rs. Graves; he came forward and shook hands. "I am delighted to make your acquaintance, Mr. Kennedy," he said, "though indeed I seem to know a great deal about you from Jack. You are quite a hero of his, you know, and I want to thank you for all your kindness to him. I am lookin

ately made, and moved with an extraordinary grace; pale and fair, but with a look of perfect health; her features were very small, and softly rather than finely moulded; she had the air of some flower-a lily he thought-which was emphasised by her simple white dress. The under-lip was a little drawn in, which gave the least touch of melancholy to the face; but she had clear blue trustful eyes, the expression of which moved him in a very sin

ness. "I am afraid industry isn't Jack's strong point? Of course I am anxious about his future-you must be used to t

holiday, you know. Howard, will you lead the way; you don't kno

t could he find to talk to this enchanting child about? He wished he had learned more about her tastes and ideas. Was this the creature

," he said, "in fact I am decidedly heterodox about its aims and the object that it has. It ought not to fall behind its object, and all this specialisation seems to me to be dangerous, and in fact decidedly perilous. My own education was on the old classical lines-an excellent gymnastic, I think, and distinctly fortifying. The old masterpieces, you know, Thucydides and so forth-they should be the basis-the foundation so to speak. But we must not forget the superstructure, the house of thought, if I may use the expression. You must forgive my ventilating these crude ideas, Mr. Kennedy. I went in myself, after taking my degree, for a course of general reading. Goethe and Schiller, you know. Yes, how fine that all is, though I sometimes feel it is a lit

w that he was belated, and

ation-to give a standard, and not to extinguish the taste for i

nothing to fall back upon-we shall be afraid to condescend. I am deplorably ill-educated myself. I have no standard wh

t it out together sometime. He will forgive an old Pembroke man for wanting

h rouses all my old activities-stimulates them, in fact. This will be a memorable evening for me, Mr. Kennedy, and I have abundance of things to ask you." He did indeed ask a good many things, but he was content to answer them himself. Once indeed, in the course of an immense tirade, in which Mr. Sandys' intellectual curiosity took a series of ever-widening sweeps, Howard caught his neighbour regarding him wi

e isn't anyone at Beaufort who has such a perfectly defined relation to everyone in the college, from the master down to the kitchen-boys. He talks to ev

"Do you really think so?" and added

guess it from some of the things he says to me. It's awful, but

ly fearful; but the Archdeacon only laughed, and said to papa afterwards that he envied hi

hat," said Howard; "it's a sort of fairy w

," said Maud, "and yet he never seems to w

t dinner. After the ladies had gone, Mr. Sandys

rd' and 'Frank' henceforth? I can't, of course, leave Jack a fortune, but when I die the two dear children will be pretty well off-I may say that. What do you think he had better go in for? I

did not think Jack

hip, I should like him to settle down at Cambridge. There's a life for you! In the forefront of the intellectual battle! It is what I should have liked myself, of all things. To hear what is going on in the intellectual line, to ventila

"It's the only thing he has ever mentioned; and I am sure he might

o be just, a little lacking in form, but full of feeling. Well, Jack, as I was saying, likes reality. So do I! A firm hold on reality-that's the best thing; I was not intellectual enough for the life of thought, and I fell back on humanity-vastly engrossing! I assure you, though you would hardly think it, that even these simple people down here are most interesting: no two of them alike. My old friends say to me sometimes that I must find country people very du

e there is not," sa

me he talks to you. A man like yourself is a vast improvement on the old type of don, if I may say so. I'm very free, you see! And so you think Jack might do well in commerce? Well, I quite approve. All I want is that he should not be out of touch with human beings. I'm not a metaphysician, but it seems to me that that is what we are here for-touch with humanity-of course on C

t be something fine about a man who had brought up two such children-but that was not all; the Vicar was enthusiastic; he revelled in life, he adored life; and Howard felt that th

down beside her. In the dim light the girl sate forward in a big arm-chair; there was nothing languorous or listless about her. She seemed all alert in a quiet way. She greeted him with a smile, and sate turned towards him, her chin on her hand, her eyes upon him. Her shining hair fell over the curve

t wasn't polite of me to stop you, but I can't bear to interrupt mus

beautiful thing being wasted, if we don't happen to hear or see it. It isn't only meant for

at you have never been here before, though you are almost her only relation. She is the most wonderful person I ha

ed. I have had a wonderful talk with her to-day-the most wonderful talk, I think, I have ever had. I can't understand it all yet-but she has given

you could have seen it so soon amazes me. I have known her all my life, and could never have put that into words. Do you know how thi

I felt that there was something behind-something more to know. All this"-he waved his hand at the room-"my aunt, your father, yourself-it does not seem to me new and unfamiliar, but something

nd ever-I feel like that to-night. It seems odd to talk like this, but you must remember that Ja

it needn't entail anything, but it can save one all sorts of fencing and cere

, and I sometimes used really to hate him. I am afraid we used to fight a great deal; at least I did, but I

ves. I never had a sister; and that accounts perhaps for my peaceful disposition." He had a sudden sense as he spoke that he was

smiling; "I recognise that-and that's what makes it easy to ta

oward, "you don't know how man

aid of looking a fool. What does it matter, I say to myself, as long as one doesn't FEEL a fool? You will come and play at the vicarage, I hope. Indeed, I want you to go and come just as you like. We are relations, you know, in a sort o

ry interesting. But I rather agree with the ministe

r posing a very clever mathematician with that once; but, as a fact, it's quite the reverse, one finds. Are you interested in neolithic men, Howard? There are graves of them all over the down-it is not certain if they were neolithic, but they had very curious burial customs. Knees up to the chin, you know

im feel curiously elated. He went back to the drawing-room with that faint feeling of flatness which

ou think of Maud? I want you to like her-she is a great friend of mine, and really a fine creature. Not very happy just now, perhaps. But while dear old Frank never sees past the outside of