This  impression  would  be  misleading.  And  while  it  is  certain
that  I  have  not  exaggerated  the  intensity  of  the  spiritual  expe-
rience I  went  through  at  Cambridge,  a  somewhat  belated  con-
sideration for  the  truth  cojnpels  me  to  register  my  belief  that
the  mood  would  in  any  case  have  been  ephemeral. .  The  poison
generated  by  the  struggle  of  my  nature  with  its  environment
had  simk  too  deep,  and  the  very  education  that  was  supposed
to  make  a  practical  man  of  me  had  turned  me  into  a  senti-
mentalist. I  became,  as  will  be  seen,  anything  but  a  practi-
cal man  in  the  true  sense,  though  the  world  in  which  I  had
been  brought  up  and  continued  to  live  deemed  me  such.  My
father  was  greatly  pleased  when  I  wrote  him  that  I  was  now
more  than  ever  convinced  of  the  wisdom  of  choosing  the  law
as  my  profession,  and  was  satisfied  that  I  had  come  to  my
senses  at  last.  He  had  still  been  prepared  to  see  me  "  go  off  at
a  tangent,"  as  he  expressed  it.  On  the  other  hand,  the  power-
ful effect  of  the  appeal  made  by  Weathersfield  and  Mr.
Watling  must  not  be  underestimated.  Here  in  one  object
lesson  was  emphasized  a  host  of  suggestions  each  of  which
had  made  its  impression.  And  when  I  returned  to  Cambridge
Alonzo  Cheyne  knew  that  he  had  lost  me.  .  ..
