"Ah what am I?" the Master expressively sighed.

"Lord, what things I shall have to do!" Paul almost moaned as be
departed.




CHAPTER VI


"It goes on too much abroad--hang abroad!" These or something like them
had been the Master's remarkable words in relation to the action of
"Ginistrella"; and yet, though they had made a sharp impression on the
author of that work, like almost all spoken words from the same source,
he a week after the conversation I have noted left England for a long
absence and full of brave intentions. It is not a perversion of the
truth to pronounce that encounter the direct cause of his departure. If
the oral utterance of the eminent writer had the privilege of moving him
deeply it was especially on his turning it over at leisure, hours and
days later, that it appeared to yield him its full meaning and exhibit
its extreme importance. He spent the summer in Switzerland and, having
in September begun a new task, determined not to cross the Alps till he
should have made a good start. To this end he returned to a quiet corner
he knew well, on the edge of the Lake of Geneva and within sight of the
towers of Chillon: a region and a view for which he had an affection that
sprang from old associations and was capable of mysterious revivals and
refreshments. Here he lingered late, till the snow was on the nearer
hills, almost down to the limit to which he could climb when his stint,