high-road he observed a small quarry, so excavated as to present an
interesting section; though weary, he could not but turn aside to
examine these strata. He knew enough of the geology of the county to
recognise the rocks and reflect with understanding upon their
position; a fragment in his hand, he sat down to rest for a moment.
Then a strange fit of brooding came over him. Escaping from the
influences of personality, his imagination wrought back through eras
of geologic time, held him in a vision of the infinitely remote,
shrivelled into insignificance all but the one fact of inconceivable
duration. Often as he had lost himself in such reveries, never yet
had he passed so wholly under the dominion of that awe which attends
a sudden triumph of the pure intellect. When at length he rose, it
was with wide, blank eyes, and limbs partly numbed. These needed
half-an-hour's walking before he could recover his mood of practical
self-search.

Until the last moment he could not decide whether to let his mother
know how he had reached Twybridge. His arrival corresponded pretty
well with that of a train by which he might have come. But when the
door opened to him, and the familiar faces smiled their welcome, he
felt that he must have nothing to do with paltry deceit; he told of
his walk, explaining it by the simple fact that this morning he had
found himself short of money. How that came to pass, no one
inquired. Mrs. Peak, shocked at such martyrdom, tended him with all
motherly care; for once, Godwin felt that it was good to have a
home, however simple.

This amiable frame of mind was not likely to last beyond the first
day. Matter of irritation soon enough offered itself, as was
invariably the case at Twybridge. It was pleasant enough to be feted