ns; and
that same evening Norbert Franks climbed the staircase to Will's flat,
and smoked his first pipe and drank his first whisky-and-soda in the
pleasant room overlooking Ranelagh. His own quarters were in Queen's
Road, Battersea, at no great distance. The two young men were soon
seeing a great deal of each other. When their friendship had ripened
through a twelvemonth, Franks, always impecunious, cheerily borrowed a
five-pound note; not long after, he mirthfully doubled his debt; and
this grew to a habit with him.

"You're a capitalist, Warburton," he remarked one day, "and a generous
fellow, too. Of course I shall pay what I owe you when I sell a big
picture. Meanwhile, you have the gratification of supporting a man of
genius, without the least inconvenience to yourself. Excellent idea of
yours to strike up a friendship, wasn't it?"

The benefit was reciprocal. Warburton did not readily form intimacies;
indeed Godfrey Sherwood had till now been almost the only man he called
friend, and the peculiarity of his temper exposed him to the risk of
being too much alone. Though neither arrogant nor envious, Will found
little pleasure in the society of people who, from any point of view,
were notably his superiors; even as he could not subordinate himself in
money-earning relations, so did he become ill-at-ease, lose all
spontaneity, in company above his social or intellectual level. Such a
man's danger was obvious; he might, in default of congenial associates,
decline upon inferiors; all the more that a softness of heart, a
fineness of humanity, ever disposed him to feel and show special
kindness for the poor, the distressed, the unfortunate. Sherwood's
acquaintances had little attraction for him; they were mostly people
who lived in a luxurious way, went in for sports, talked about the
money market--all of which things fascinated Godfrey, though in truth
he was far from belonging by nature to that particular world. With
Franks, Will could be wholly himself, enjoying the slight advantage of
his larger means, extending his knowledge without undue obligation, and
getting all the good that comes to a man from the exercise of his
kindliest feelings.

With less of geniality, because more occupied with himself, Norbert
Franks resembled his new friend in a distaste for ordinary social
pleasures and an enjoyment of the intimacies of life. He stood very
much alone in the world, and from the age of eighteen he had in one way
or