he common
level of intellectual men; but he understood that college learning
could not be an end in itself, that the Professors to whom he listened
either did not speak out all that was in their minds, or, if they did,
were far from representing the advanced guard of modern thought. With
eagerness he at length betook himself to the teachers of philosophy and
of geology. Having paid for these lectures out of his own pocket, he
felt as if he had won a privilege beyond the conventional course of
study, an initiation to a higher sphere of intellect. The result was
disillusion. Not even in these class-rooms could he hear the word for
which he waited, the bold annunciation of newly discovered law, the
science which had completely broken with tradition. He came away
unsatisfied, and brooded upon the possibilities which would open for
him when he was no longer dependent.

His evening work at home was subject to a disturbance which would have
led him to seek other lodgings, could he have hoped to find any so
cheap as these. The landlady's son, a lank youth of the clerk species,
was wont to amuse himself from eight to ten with practice on a piano.
By dint of perseverance he had learned to strum two or three hymnal
melodies popularised by American evangelists; occasionally he even
added the charm of his voice, which had a pietistic nasality not easily
endured by an ear of any refinement. Not only was Godwin harassed by
the recurrence of these performances; the tunes worked themselves into
his brain, and sometimes throughout a whole day their burden clanged
and squalled incessantly on his mental hearing. He longed to entreat
forbearance from the musician, but an excess of delicacy--which always
ruled his behaviour--kept him silent. Certain passages in the classics,
and many an elaborate mathematical formula, long retained for him an
association with the cadences of revivalist hymnody.

Like all proud natures condemned to solitude, he tried to convince
himself that he had no need of society, that he despised its
attractions, and could be self-sufficing. So far was this from the
truth that he often regarded with bitter envy those of his
fellow-students who had the social air, who conversed freely among
their equals, and showed that the pursuits of the College were only a
part of their existence. These young men were either preparing for the
University, or would pass from Whitelaw to business, profession,
official training; in any c