e thrown away here
intirely, wasting me swateness on the desert air, as Tom Moore says'
(Panurgus used to attribute all quotations whatsoever to Irish
geniuses); 'and I flatter meself I'm the boy to shute the Gospel to
the aristocracy.'

Lancelot burst into a roar of laughter, and escaped over the next
gate: but the Irishman's coarse hints stuck by him as they were
intended to do. 'Dying for the love of me!' He knew it was an
impudent exaggeration, but, somehow, it gave him confidence; 'there
is no smoke,' he thought, 'without fire.' And his heart beat high
with new hopes, for which he laughed at himself all the while. It
was just the cordial which he needed. That conversation determined
the history of his life.

He met Argemone that morning in the library, as usual; but he soon
found that she was not thinking of Homer. She was moody and
abstracted; and he could not help at last saying,--

'I am afraid I and my classics are de trop this morning, Miss
Lavington.'

'Oh, no, no. Never that.' She turned away her head. He fancied
that it was to hide a tear.

Suddenly she rose, and turned to him with a clear, calm, gentle
gaze.

'Listen to me, Mr. Smith. We must part to-day, and for ever. This
intimacy has gone on--too long, I am afraid, for your happiness.
And now, like all pleasant things in this miserable world, it must
cease. I cannot tell you why; but you will trust me. I thank you
for it--I thank God for it. I have learnt things from it which I
shall never forget. I have learnt, at least from it, to esteem and
honour you. You have vast powers. Nothing, nothing, I believe, is
too high for you to attempt and succeed. But we must part; and now,
God be with you. Oh, that you would but believe that these glorious
talents are His loan! That you would but be a true and loyal knight
to him who said--"Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly of heart, and
ye shall find rest unto your souls!"--Ay,' she went on, more and
more passionately, for she felt that not she, but One mightier than
herself was speaking through her, 'then you might be great indeed.
Then I might watch your name from afar, rising higher and higher
daily in the ranks of God's own heroes. I see it--and you have
taught me to see it--that you are meant for a faith nobler and
deeper than all doctrines and systems can give. You must become the
philosopher, who can discover new truths--the artist who can