e licence of the streets but seldom allured him. After his
twenty-fourth year he was proof against the decoys of venal pleasure,
and lived a life of asceticism exceedingly rare in young and lonely
men. When Christian Moxey returned to London and took the house at
Notting Hill, which he henceforth occupied together with his sister, a
possibility of social intercourse at length appeared. Indeed it was a
substantial gain to sit from time to time at a civilised table, and to
converse amid graceful surroundings with people who at all events
followed the intellectual current of the day. Careless hitherto of his
personal appearance, he now cultivated an elegance of attire in
conformity with his aristocratic instincts, and this habit became
fixed. When next he visited Twybridge, the change in his appearance was
generally remarked. Mrs. Peak naturally understood it as a significant
result of his intercourse with Miss Moxey, of whom, as it seemed to
her, he spoke with singular reticence.

But Marcella had no charm for Godwin's imagination, notwithstanding
that he presently suspected a warmth of interest on her side which he
was far from consciously encouraging. Nor did he find among his friends
any man or woman for whose acquaintance he greatly cared. The Moxeys
had a very small circle, consisting chiefly of intellectual inferiors.
Christian was too indolent to make a figure in society, and his sister
suffered from peculiarities of mind and temperament which made it as
difficult for her as for Peak himself to form intimate friendships.

When chance encounter brought him into connection with Earwaker, the
revival of bygone things was at first doubtfully pleasant. Earwaker
himself, remarkably developed and become a very interesting man, was as
welcome an associate as he could have found, but it cost him some
effort to dismiss the thought of Andrew Peak's eating-house, and to
accept the friendly tact with which the journalist avoided all hint of
unpleasant memories. That Earwaker should refrain from a single
question concerning that abrupt disappearance, nearly ten years ago,
sufficiently declared his knowledge of the unspeakable cause, a
reflection which often made Godwin writhe. However, this difficulty was
overcome, and the two met very frequently. For several weeks Godwin
enjoyed better spirits than he had known since the first excitement of
his life in London faded away.

One result was easily foreseen. His mind grew busy wit