felt himself humbled, diminished?

For Malling loved knowledge and thought men should live by it. Had truth
a Medusa face, still would he have desired to look into it once, would
have been ready to endure a subsequent turning to stone.

That Chichester should perhaps have seen what he had not seen--that
troubled him, even humbled him.

Some words of Professor Stepton came back to his mind: "If there's
anything in it, development will take place in the link." And those last
words: "If in doubt, study Lady Sophia."

Mailing was in doubt. Why not follow Stepton's advice? Why not study Lady
Sophia?

He resolved to do it. And with the resolve came to him a sense of greater
well-being. The worm-sensation departed from him. He lifted his head and
walked more briskly.




V


On the night following the dinner in Hornton Street, Malling went to the
Covent Garden Opera House to hear "La Traviata." The well-worn work did
not grasp the attention of a man who was genuinely fond of the music of
Richard Strauss, with its almost miraculous intricacies, and who was