labour necessary to attain his object. The long rows of
law-calf on Mr. Travers's shelves had no terrors for him. Nor was it
that he felt as yet any decided uneasiness at living under a feigned
name. He had never for an instant imagined it was wrong, and it had
his father's sanction. Yet this circumstance might be a chief source
of his discontent. He had not known the levelling tendency of a public
school, nor the freedom of college. From those early lessons in the
picture-gallery at Trevethlan, he had silently grown up in the
consciousness that he should be the head of an ancient race, and
perhaps, in building his castle in the air, he regarded himself as an
architect in the midst of masons. He never thought of himself as
Morton, humble and unknown, but as the representative of a high
family, recognized and honoured.

So Mr. Griffith was right, and Polydore Riches wrong. But the worthy
chaplain was in no fault. No education could have prevailed against
the circumstances of the case. A youth spent in isolation and reverie,
is almost certain to lead to a manhood of irresolution. The habit of
thinking becomes a curse, when it is developed too early. Such
precociousness is apt to result in a purely negative character. This
was the misfortune of Randolph. And although he carefully pursued his
studies, and concealed his disquietude from Helen, he often sighed for
the peace of his home, and sometimes even thought of abandoning his
scheme, and returning thither.

The same feelings made him distant and reserved in his intercourse
with the men in Hall and at Mr. Travers's chambers. He had no
sympathy with their buoyancy, and he disliked their familiarity. There
was, however, one of the latter, with whom he grew gradually intimate,
having been introduced to him by Mr. Winter. Seymour Rereworth was a
man of calm but decided opinions, of quiet and diligent habits, of
polished manners, and of great attainments. He possessed also the
advantages which Randolph missed so much, having been educated at
Eton, and having obtained high honours at college. Looking to his
profession for distinction more than actual maintenance, he earnestly
and steadily pursued his aim, never revolting from the weary drudgery,
never disheartened by the thorny intricacies, through which the lawyer
is doomed to plod in his way to eminence. Very particular in his
choice of friends, he was interested by the mixture of enthusiasm and
embarrassment which he detec