hley to be out of the
area of infection, and there the family had bettered their previous
slight acquaintance with Clarke and some of his friends. They had
Anthony Dalaber and Hugh Fitzjames in the same house where they
were lodging; and Clarke would come and go at will, therein growing
in intimacy with the learned physician, who delighted in the deep
scholarship and the original habit of thought which distinguished
the young man.

"If he live," he once said to his daughters, after a long evening,
in which the two had sat discoursing of men and books and the
topics of the day--"if he live, John Clarke will make a mark in the
university, if not in the world. I have seldom met a finer
intellect, seldom a man of such singleness of mind and purity of
spirit. Small wonder that students flock to his lectures and desire
to be taught of him. Heaven protect him from the perils which too
often threaten those who think too much for themselves, and who
overleap the barriers by which some would fence our souls about.
There are dangers as well as prizes for those about whom the world
speaks aloud."

Now the students had returned to Oxford, the sickness had abated,
and Dr. Langton had brought his daughters back to their beloved
home. But the visits of John Clarke still continued to be frequent.
It was but a short walk through the meadows from Cardinal College
to the Bridge House. On many a pleasant evening, his work being
done, the young master would sally forth to see his friends; and
one pair of soft eyes had learned to glow and sparkle at sight of
him, as his tall, slight figure in its dark gown was to be seen
approaching. Magdalen Langton, at least, never wearied of any
discussion which might take place in her presence, if John Clarke
were one of the disputants.

And, indeed, the beautiful sisters were themselves able to follow,
if not to take part in, most of the learned disquisitions which
took place at their home. Their father had educated them with the
greatest care, consoling himself for the early loss of his wife and
the lack of sons by superintending the education of his twin
daughters, and instructing them not only in such elementary matters
as reading and writing (often thought more than sufficient for a
woman's whole stock in trade of learning), but in the higher
branches of knowledge--in grammar, mathematics, and astronomy, as
well as in the Latin and French languages, and in that favourite
study of his, the Greek