Thenceforth "The highest things" should be my search, and nothing less.
My ambitions had advanced a second step.




CHAPTER IX.

ASSORTED ENTHUSIASMS.

"Ici bas tous les lilas meurent;
Tous les chants des oiseaux sont courts;
Je cherche aux étés qui demeurent
Toujours."

--SULLY-PRUDHOMME.


And now of the influences which shaped that quest of "the highest
things." There were the conversations in our Secret Society, the
"Centre-Seekers." Picture a winter's eve, a cosy fire, a weird hall, and
a group whose initiation oath was simply "I promise to be sincere."

"There is the solution of Epicurus," remarks Holyoake, our Agnostic;
"Pleasure, at least, is real. Wrap yourself in it, for you can do no
better. Contentment is but one pleasure, as Salvation is another, and
even sensuality may be best to you."

"How about the man who lives for his children?" asked young Fred. Lyle,
whose ruddy face was made brighter by the fire glow.