been so strenuously questioning his belief that it is small wonder that
he found his heart full of fire. In the days of his stay at Brookfield,
moreover, he had been rapidly journeying on the road toward a new view
of life; and the idea of returning to the Clergy House became to him
well-nigh intolerable. It seemed like taking upon himself once more the
swaddling-clothes of infancy.

On the afternoon of his return, he hurried to see Ashe, and found
himself obliged to wait some time for his friend's return from a
committee meeting. Mr. Herman chanced to be at home alone, and Maurice
sat with him in the library. Wynne had come to know the sculptor fairly
well, and had been warmly drawn toward him. He was to-day struck more
than ever by the strength and self-poise which Herman showed. The
young man was seized with a desire to appeal to the sanity and the
kindliness of one who seemed to possess both so aboundingly.

"Have you ever found yourself all at sea, Mr. Herman?" he asked
abruptly.

"Of course. I fancy every man has had that experience."

"But," Maurice hurried on, more impulsively yet, "you can never have
felt that you were a renegade and a hypocrite. That's where I am now."

The sculptor regarded him with evident surprise, yet with a look so
keen that Maurice felt his cheeks grow warm.

"Does that mean," Herman asked with kindly deliberation, "that you are
tired and out of sorts, or is it something deeper?"