 neither saw nor heard directly from Lady Whitelaw.
    Not a house in Kingsmill opened hospitable doors to the lonely student; nor
was anyone to blame for this. With no family had he friendly acquaintance. When,
towards the end of his second year, he grew sufficiently intimate with Buckland
Warricombe to walk out with him to Thornhaw, it could be nothing more than a
scarcely welcome exception to the rule of solitude. Impossible for him to
cultivate the friendship of such people as the Warricombes, with their large and
joyous scheme of life. Only at a hearth where homeliness and cordiality united
to unthaw his proud reserve could Godwin perchance have found the companionship
he needed. Many such homes existed in Kingsmill, but no kindly fortune led the
young man within the sphere of their warmth.
    His lodgings were in a very ugly street in the ugliest outskirts of the
town; he had to take a long walk through desolate districts, (brick-yard, sordid
pasture, degenerate village) before he could refresh his eyes with the rural
scenery which was so great a joy to him as almost to be a necessity. The
immediate vicinage offered nothing but monotone of grimy, lower middle-class
dwellings, occasionally relieved by a public-house. He occupied two rooms, not
unreasonably clean, and was seldom disturbed by the attentions of his landlady.
    An impartial observer might have wondered at the negligence which left him
to arrange his life as best he could, notwithstanding youth and utter
inexperience. It looked indeed as if there were no one in the world who cared
what became of him. Yet this was merely the result of his mother's
circumstances, and of his own character. Mrs. Peak could do no more than make
her small remittances, and therewith send an occasional admonition regarding his
health. She did not, in fact, conceive the state of things, imagining that the
authority and supervisal of the College extended over her son's daily existence,
whereas it was possible for Godwin to frequent lectures or not, to study or to
waste his time, pretty much as he chose, subject only to official inquiry if his
attendance became frequently irregular. His independent temper, and the seeming
maturity of his mind, supplied another excuse for the imprudent confidence which
left him to his own resources. Yet the perils of the situation were great
indeed. A youth of less concentrated purpose, more at the mercy of casual
allurement, would probably have gone to wreck amid trials so exceptional.
    Trials not only of his moral nature. The sums of money with which he was
furnished fell short of a reasonable total for bare
