.'

They had come to know something of one another's humours; which are taken
by young men for their characters; and should the humours please, they
are friends, until further humours develop, trying these nascent
conservatives hard to suit them to their moods as well as the accustomed.
Lord Fleetwood had discovered in his companion, besides the spirit of
independence and the powers of thought impressed on him by Woodseer's
precocious flashes, a broad playfulness, that trenched on buffoonery; it
astonished, amused, and relieved him, loosening the spell of reverence
cast over him by one who could so wonderfully illumine his brain. Prone
to admire and bend the knee where he admired, he chafed at subjection,
unless he had the particular spell constantly renewed. A tone in him once
or twice of late, different from the comrade's, had warned Woodseer to be
guarded.

Susceptible, however, of the extreme contrast between the gamblers below
and Nature's lover beside him, Fleetwood returned to his enthusiasm
without thinking it a bondage.

'I shall never forget the walk we 've had. I have to thank you for the
noblest of pleasures. You 've taught me--well, a thousand things; the
things money can't buy. What mornings they were! And the dead-tired
nights! Under the rock and up to see the snowy peak pink in a gap of
thick mist. You were right: it made a crimsoning colour shine like a new
idea. Up in those mountains one walks with the divinities, you said. It's
perfectly true. I shall remember I did. I have a treasure for life! Now I
understand where you get your ideas. The life we lead down there is
hoggish. You have chosen the right. You're right, over and over again,
when you say, the dirty sweaters are nearer the angels for cleanliness
than my Lord and Lady Sybarite out of a bath, in chemical scents. A man
who thinks, loathes their High Society. I went through Juvenal at
college. But you--to be sure, you add example--make me feel the contempt
of it more. I am everlastingly indebted to you. Yes, I won't forget: you
preach against the despising of anything.

This was pleasant in Woodseer's ears, inasmuch as it established the
young nobleman as the pupil of his philosophy for the conduct of life;
and to fortify him, he replied:

'Set your mind on the beauty, and there'll be no room for comparisons.
Most of them are unjust, precious few instructive. In this case, they
spoil both pictures: and that scene down there rather hooks me