quotations I had heard from you. The
theory seems plausible; I should think there is a good deal of truth in
it. In any case, it helps one to direct one's life."

"Oh, you feel that? Now _there_," exclaimed Lashmar, his eye
brightening, "is the explanation of what seemed to you very
dishonourable behaviour in me. You know me, and you will understand as
soon as I hint at the psychology of the thing. When that book fell into
my hands, I was seeking eagerly for a theory of the world by which to
live. I have had many glimpses of the truth about life--glimpses gained
by my own honest thought. This book completed the theory I had been
shaping for myself; it brought me mental rest, and a sense of fixed
purpose such as I had never known. Its reconciliation of the
aristocratic principle with a true socialism was exactly what I had
been striving for; it put me at harmony with myself, for you know that
I am at the same time Aristocrat and Socialist. Well now, I spoke of
the book to my father, and begged him to read it. It was when we met at
Alverholme, in the spring, you remember? How long ago does that seem to
you? To me, several years. Yes, I had the volume with me, and showed it
to my father; sufficient proof that I had no intention of using it
dishonestly. But--follow me, I beg--I had so absorbed the theory, so
thoroughly made it the directing principle of my mind, that I very soon
ceased to think of it as somebody else's work. I completed it with all
sorts of new illustrations, confirmations, which had been hanging loose
in my memory, and the result was that I one day found myself talking
about it as if it had originated with me. If I'm not mistaken, I was
talking with Dymchurch--yes, it was Dymchurch. When I had time to
reflect, I saw what I had unconsciously done quite unconsciously,
believe me. I thought it over, Ought I to let Dymchurch know where I
had got my central idea? And I decided at length that I would say
nothing."

Constance, leaning back in her chair, listened attentively, with
impartial countenance.

"You see why, don't you?" His voice thrilled with earnestness; his eyes
shone as if with the very light of truth. "To say calmly: By the bye, I
came across that bio-sociological theory in such and such a book, would
have been a flagrant injustice to myself. I couldn't ask Dymchurch to
listen whilst I elaborately expounded my mental and spiritual history
during the past year or two, yet short of that there was