fellow all round, in short, than he
was, because, then, perhaps----

And Julius March, too, found the singing somewhat agitating, though to
him the personality of the singer was of small account. Another
personality, and a train of feeling evoked by certain new aspects of
it, had pursued him all the day long. Katherine, mindful of her
somewhat outspoken divergence of opinion from his, in the morning, had
been particularly thoughtful of his pleasure and entertainment. At
dinner she directed the conversation upon subjects interesting to him,
and had thereby made him talk more unreservedly than was his wont. Not
even the most saintly of human beings is wholly indifferent to social
success. Julius was conscious of a stirring of the blood, of a subdued
excitement. These sensations were pleasurable. But his training had
taught him to distrust pleasurable sensations as too often the
offspring of very questionable parentage. And, while Mary Cathcart's
voice still breathed upon the fragrant night air, he, standing on the
outskirts of the listening company, slipped away unperceived.

His study, a long narrow room occupying, with his bedroom, the ground
floor of the chapel wing of the house, struck chill as he entered it.
Above the range of pigeon-holes and little drawers, forming the back of
the writing-table, two candles burned on either side of a bronze
_pieta_, which Julius had brought back with him from Rome. On the broad
slab of the table below were the many quires of foolscap forming the
library catalogue, neatly numbered and lettered; while his diary lay
open upon the blotting-pad, ready for the chronicle of the past day.
Beside it was the packet of chap-books, still tied together with their
tag of rusty ribbon.

It was Julius March's habit to exchange his coat for a cassock in the
privacy of his study. He did so now, and knotted a black cord about his
waist. Let no one underrate the sustaining power of costume, whether it
take the form of ballet-skirt or monk's frock. Human nature is but a
weak thing at best, and needs outward and visible signs, not only to
support its faith in its deity, but even its faith in its own poor
self! Of persons of sensitive temperament and limited experience, such
as Julius, this is particularly true. Putting off his secular garment,
as a rule, he could put off secular thoughts as well. Beneath the
severe and scanty folds of the cassock there was small space for
remembrance of the pomp and