As for the details of his advance towards the clerical state, he had decided to resume his career at the point where it was interrupted by Andrew Peak.  Twice had his education received a check from hostile circumstances:  when domestic poverty compelled him to leave school for Mr. Moxey’s service, and when shame drove him from Whitelaw College.  In reflecting upon his own character and his lot he gave much weight to these irregularities, no doubt with justice.  In both cases he was turned aside from the way of natural development and opportunity.  He would now complete his academic course by taking the London degree at which he had long ago aimed; the preliminary examination might without difficulty be passed this summer, and next year he might write himself Bachelor of Arts.  A return to the studies of boyhood probably accounted in some measure for the frequent gaiety which he attributed to improving health and revived hopes.  Everything he undertook was easy to him, and by a pleasant self-deception he made the passing of a school task his augury of success in greater things.

During the spring he was indebted to the Warricombes’ friendship for several new acquaintances.  A clergyman named Lilywhite, often at the Warricombes’ house, made friendly overtures to him; the connection might be a useful one, and Godwin made the most of it.  Mr. Lilywhite was a man of forty well—­read, of scientific tastes, an active pedestrian.  Peak had no difficulty in associating with him on amicable terms.  With Mrs. Lilywhite, the mother of six children and possessed of many virtues, he presently became a favourite,—­she saw in him ‘a great deal of quiet moral force’.  One or two families of good standing made him welcome at their houses; society is very kind to those who seek its benefits with recognised credentials.  The more he saw of these wealthy and tranquil middle-class people, the more fervently did he admire the gracefulness of their existence.  He had not set before himself an imaginary ideal; the girls and women were sweet, gentle, perfect in manner, and, within limits, of bright intelligence.  He was conscious of benefiting greatly, and not alone in things extrinsic, by the atmosphere of such homes.

Nature’s progress towards summer kept him in a mood of healthful enjoyment.  From the window of his sitting-room he looked over the opposite houses to Northernhay, the hill where once stood Rougemont Castle, its wooded declivities now fashioned into a public garden.  He watched the rooks at their building in the great elms, and was gladdened when the naked branches began to deck themselves, day by day the fresh verdure swelling into soft, graceful outline.  In his walks he pried eagerly for the first violet, welcomed the earliest blackthorn blossom; every common flower of field and hedgerow gave him a new, keen pleasure.  As was to be expected he found the same impulses strong in Sidwell Warricombe and her sister.  Sidwell could tell him of secret