nce. Christian beat the ground with his stick.

'Your state of mind, then,' he said at length, 'is more like my own
than I imagined. I, too, have wavered for a long time between
literature and science, and now at last I have quite
decided--quite--that scientific study is the only safe line for me. The
fact is, a man must concentrate himself. Not only for the sake of
practical success, but--well, for his own sake.'

He spoke lazily, dreamily, propped upon his elbow, seeming to watch the
sheep which panted at a few yards from him.

'I have no right,' he pursued, with a shadow of kindly anxiety on his
features, 'to offer you advice, but--well, if you will let me insist on
what I have learned from my own experience. There's nothing like having
a special line of work and sticking to it vigorously. I, unfortunately,
shall never do anything of any account,--but I know so well the
conflict between diverging tastes. It has played the deuce with me, in
all sorts of ways. At Zurich I utterly wasted my time, and I've done no
better since I came back to England. Don't think me presumptuous. I
only mean--well, it is so important to--to go ahead in one line.'

His air of laughing apology was very pleasant. Godwin felt his heart
open to the kind fellow.

'No one needs the advice more than I,' he replied. 'I am going back to
the line I took naturally when I first began to study at all.'

'But why leave Whitelaw?' asked Christian, gently.

'Because I dislike it--I can't tell you why.'

With ready tact Moxey led away from a subject which he saw was painful.

'Of course there are many other places where one can study just as
well.'

'Do you know anything of the School of Mines in London?' Godwin
inquired, abruptly.

'I worked there myself for a short time.'

'Then you could tell me about the--the fees, and so on?'

Christian readily gave the desired information, and the listener mused
over it.

'Have you any friends in London?' Moxey asked, at length.

'No. But I don't think that matters. I shall work all the harder.'
'Perhaps so,' said the other, with some hesitation. And he added
thoughtfully, 'It depends on one's temperament. Doesn't answer to be
too much alone--I speak for myself at all events. I know very few
people in London--very few that I care anything about. That, in fact,
is one reason why I am staying here longer than I intended.' He seemed
to speak rather to himself than to Godwin; the half-smile on his lips