ty that I
can discover, is to provide for the needs of men of virtue and
intelligence!"

Later on, Howard was left alone with him, and thought that it would
please the old man to tell him of the change in his own position.

"I am delighted to hear it," said Mr. Redmayne: "a landed proprietor,
that's a very comfortable thing! Now how will that affect your position
here? Ah yes, I see--only the heir-apparent at present. Well, you will
probably find that the estate has all been run on very sentimental
lines by your worthy aunt. You take my advice, and put it all on a
business-like footing. Let it be clear from the first that you won't
stand any nonsense. Ideas!" said Mr. Redmayne in high disdain, "that's
the curse of the country. Ideas everywhere, about the empire, about
civic rights and duties, about religion, about art"--he made a long
face as though he had swallowed medicine. "Let us all keep our distance
and do our work. Let us have no nonsense about the brotherhood of man.
I hope with all my heart, Howard, that you won't permit anything of
that kind. I don't feel as sure of you as I should like; but this will
be a very good thing for you, if it shows you that all this stuff will
not do in practice. I'm an honest Whig. Let everyone have a vote, and
let them give their votes for the right people, and then we shall get
on very well."

XV

JACK'S ESCAPADE

The college slowly filled; the term began; Howard went back to his
work, and the perplexities of Windlow rather faded into the background.
He would behave very differently when he went there next. It should all
be cool, friendly, unemotional. But in spite of everything, his aunt's
words came sometimes into his mind, troubling it with a sudden thrill.
"Power, spirit, the development of life,"--were these real things, had
one somehow to put oneself into touch with them? Was the life of serene
and tranquil work but marking time, wasting opportunity? Had one
somehow to be stirred into action and reality? Was there something in
the background, which did not insist or drive or interfere with one's
inclinations, because it knew that it would be obeyed and yielded to
some time? Was it just biding its time, waiting, impelling but not
forcing one to change? It gave him an impulse to look closer at his own
views and aims, to consider what his motives really were, how far he
could choose, how much he could prevail, to what extent he could really
do as he hoped and de