walking up and down received special instructions.
Then ensued the meal, spread in the hall; the period of recreation, in
the meadows, or in the licensed sports, or on the river; fresh studies,
chapel, and a social but quiet evening over the supper in the hall. All
this was varied by Latin sermons at St. Mary's, or disputations and
lectures by notable doctors, and public arguments between scholars, by
which they absolutely fought out their degrees. There were few colleges
as yet, and those resident in them were the _elite_; beyond, there was a
great mob of scholars living in rooms as they could, generally very poor,
and often very disorderly; but they did not mar the quiet semi-monastic
stillness within the foundations, and to Malcolm it seemed as if the
truly congenial home was opened.

The curriculum of science began to reveal itself to him with all the
stages so inviting to a mind conscious of power and longing for
cultivation. The books, the learned atmosphere, the infinite
possibilities, were delightful to him, and opened a more delightful
future. His metaphysical Scottish mind delighted in the scholastic
arguments that were now first set before him, and his readiness,
appreciation, and eager power of acquiring surprised his teachers, and
made him the pride of New College.

When he looked back at his year of court and camp, he could only marvel
at having ever preferred them. In war his want of bodily strength would
make real distinction impossible; here he felt himself excelling; here
was absolute enjoyment, and of a kind without drawback. Scholarship must
be his true element and study: the deep universal study of the sisterhood
of science that the University offered was his veritable vocation. Surely
it was not without significance that the ring that shone on his finger
betrothed him to Esclairmonde, the Light of the World; for though in
person the maiden was never to be his own, she was the emblem to him of
the pure virgin light of truth and wisdom that he would be for ever
wooing, and winning only to see further lights beyond. Human nature felt
a pang at the knowledge that he was bound to deliver up the ring and
resign his connection with that fair and stately maiden; but the pain
that had been sore at first had diminished under the sense that he stood
in a post of generous trust, and that his sacrifice was the passport to
her grateful esteem. He knew her to be with Lady Montagu, awaiting a
vacancy at