Howard woke early, after sweet and wild dreams of great landscapes
and rich adventures; as his thoughts took shape, he began to feel
as if he had passed some boundary yesterday; escaped, as a child
escapes from a familiar garden into great vague woodlands. There
was his talk with Mrs. Graves first--that had opened up for him a
new region, indeed, of the mind and soul, and had revealed to him
an old force, perhaps long within his grasp, but which he had never
tried to use or wield. And the vision too of Maud crossed his mind--
a perfectly beautiful thing, which had risen like a star. He did
not think of it as love at all--that did not cross his mind--it was
just the thought of something enchantingly and exquisitely
beautiful, which disturbed him, awed him, threw his mind off its
habitual track. How extraordinarily lovely, simple, sweet, the girl
had seemed to him in the dim room, in the faint light; and how
fearless and frank she had been! He was conscious only of something
adorable, which raised, as beautiful things did, a sense of
something unapproachable, some yearning which could not be
satisfied. How far away, how faded and dusty his ordinary contented
Cambridge life now seemed to him!

He breakfasted alone, read a few letters which had been forwarded
to him, and went to the library. A few minutes later Miss Merry
tapped at the door, and came in.

"Mrs. Graves asked me to say--she was sorry she forgot to mention