d a
common interest in disguising the fact of their dual existence. Yet the
transformation never occurred without producing its little harvest of
inconveniences, and the difficulty of disguising the difference between
the two was the greater because of the number of old acquaintances and
friends of Milly Flaxman living in Oxford.

This was one reason why, when Ian was offered the headship of the
Merchants' Guild College in London, Mildred encouraged him to take it.
The income, too, seemed large in comparison to their Oxford one; and the
great capital, with its ever-roaring surge of life, drew her with a
natural magnetism. The old Foundation was being reconstructed, and was
ambitious of adorning itself with a name so distinguished as Ian
Stewart's, while at the same time obtaining the services of a man with
so many of his best years still before him. Stewart, although he could
do fairly well in practical administration, if he gave his mind to it,
had won distinction as a student and man of letters, and feared that,
difficult as it was to combine the real work of his life with
bread-and-butter-making in Oxford, it would be still more difficult to
combine it with steering the ship of the Merchants' Guild College. But
he had the sensitive man's defect of too often deferring to the judgment
of others, less informed or less judicious than himself. He found it
impossible to believe that the opinion of the Master of Durham was not
better than his own; and his old friend and tutor was strongly in favor
of his accepting the headship. His most really happy and successful
years had been those later ones in which he had shone as the Head of the
most brilliant College in Oxford, a man of affairs and, in his
individual way, a social centre. Accordingly he found it impossible to
believe that it might be otherwise with Ian Stewart. The majority of
Ian's most trusted advisers were of the same opinion as the Master,
since the number of persons who can understand the conditions necessary
to the productiveness of exceptional and creative minds is always few.
Besides, most people at bottom are in Martha's attitude of scepticism
towards the immaterial service of the world.

Lady Thomson voiced the general opinion in declaring that a man could
always find time to do good work if he really wanted to do it. She
rejoiced when Ian put aside the serious doubts which beset him and
accepted the London offer. Mildred also rejoiced, although she regre