could make the journey together next day. The tortured and blissful
young man, stripped of his borrowed philosopher's cloak, hung conscience-
ridden in this delicious bower, which was perceptibly an antechamber of
the vaults, offering him the study he thirsted for, shrank from, and
mixed with his cup of amorous worship.




CHAPTER XXI

IN WHICH WE HAVE FURTHER GLIMPSES OF THE WONDROUS MECHANISM OF OUR
YOUNGER MAN

The report of Admiral Baldwin Fakenham as having died in the arms of a
stranger visiting the house, hit nearer the mark than usual. He yielded
his last breath as Gower Woodseer was lowering him to his pillow, shortly
after a husky whisper of the letter to Lady Arpington; and that was one
of Gower's crucial trials. It condemned him, for the pacifying of a
dying man, to the murmur and shuffle, which was a lie; and the lie burnt
him, contributed to the brand on his race. He and his father upheld a
solitary bare staff, where the Cambrian flag had flown, before their
people had been trampled in mire, to do as the worms. His loathing of
any shadow of the lie was a protest on behalf of Welsh blood against an
English charge, besides the passion for spiritual cleanliness: without
which was no comprehension, therefore no enjoyment, of Nature possible to
him. For Nature is the Truth.

He begged the countess to let him have the letter; he held to the
petition, with supplications; he spoke of his pledged word, his honour;