unknowingly fanned a latent spark into a flame, which, unless checked,
would consume all those high and praiseworthy resolutions which George
had formed, and carefully kept for years. He had cast a shadow over the
landscape of his friend's well-being, which made the sign-posts pointing
"upward and onward" almost indistinct. He had breathed into the
atmosphere a subtle malaria, and George had caught the disease. The
little leaven was now mixed with his life, which would leaven the whole.
The genus of that moral consumption, which, unless cured by the Great
Physician, ends in death, had been sown, and were now taking root.

George was unconscious of any foreign influence working upon him--he
could not see that Ashton had in any way exerted a power over him; nor
in the new and undefined feelings which had taken possession of him
could he recognise the presence of evil. He had consulted conscience,
and, he fancied, had satisfactorily met the warnings of its voice.

But he had _not_ gone to that high and sure source of strength which can
alone make a way of escape from all temptations; he had _not_ obtained
that armour of righteousness which is the only defence against the fiery
darts of the wicked one; he had _not_ that faith, in the power of which
alone Satan can be resisted; and therefore his eyes were holden so that
he could not see the snares which the subtle foe was laying around him,
nor could he, in his own strength, bear up against the strong tide which
was threatening to overwhelm him.




CHAPTER V.