 and a
student of well-stored mind; insincerity must be very careful if it would not
jar upon his refined ear. So Godwin often checked himself in the utterance of
what might sound too much like flattery. A young man talking with one much
older, a poor man in dialogue with a wealthy, must under any circumstances guard
his speech; for one of Godwin's aggressive idiosyncrasy the task of discretion
had peculiar difficulties, and the attitude he had assumed at luncheon still
further complicated the operations of his mind. Only at moments could he speak
in his true voice, and silence meant for the most part a studious repression of
much he would naturally have uttered.
    Resurgent envy gave him no little trouble. On entering the room, he could
not but exclaim to himself, »How easy for a man to do notable work amid such
surroundings! If I were but thus equipped for investigation!« And as often as
his eyes left a particular object to make a general survey, the same thought
burned in him. He feared lest it should be legible on his countenance.
    Taking a pamphlet from the table, Mr. Warricombe, with a humorous twinkle in
his eyes, inquired whether Peak read German; the answer being affirmative:
    »Naturally,« he rejoined, »you could hardly have neglected so important a
language. I, unfortunately, didn't learn it in my youth, and I have never had
perseverance enough to struggle with it since. Something led me to take down
this brochure the other day - an old attempt of mine to write about the
weathering of rocks. It was printed in '76, and no sooner had it seen the light
than friends of mine wanted to know what I meant by appropriating, without
acknowledgment, certain facts quite recently pointed out by Professor Pfaff of
Erlangen! Unhappily, Professor Pfaff's results were quite unknown to me, and I
had to get them translated. The coincidences, sure enough, were very noticeable.
Just before you came in, I was reviving that old discomfiture.«
    Peak, in glancing over the pages, murmured with a smile:
    »Pereant qui ante nos nostra dixerunt!«
    »Even so!« exclaimed Mr. Warricombe, laughing with a subdued heartiness
which was one of his pleasant characteristics. And, after a pause, he inquired,
»Do you find any time to keep up your classics?«
    »By fits and starts. Sometimes I return to them for a month or two.«
    »Why, it's pretty much the same with me. Here on my table, for instance
