code of morals has deemed
legitimate. Let the society which compelled to such an expedient bear the burden
of its shame.
    That must indeed have been a circle of great intellects amid which Godwin
Peak felt himself subordinate. He had never known that impression, and in the
Warricombe family was no one whom he could regard even as his equal. Buckland,
doubtless, had some knowledge of the world, and could boast of a free mind; but
he lacked subtlety: a psychological problem would easily puzzle him. Mr.
Warricombe's attainments were respectable, but what could be said of a man who
had devoted his life to geology, and still (in the year 1884) remained an
orthodox member of the Church of England? Godwin, as he sat in the drawing-room
and enjoyed its atmosphere of refinement, sincerely held himself of far more
account as an intellectual being than all the persons about him.
    But if his brain must dwell in solitude his heart might compass worthy
alliances - the thing most needful to humanity. One may find the associates of
his intellect in libraries - the friend of one's emotions must walk in flesh and
blood. Earwaker, Moxey - these were in many respects admirable fellows, and he
had no little love for them, but the world they represented was womanless, and
so of flagrant imperfection. Of Marcella Moxey he could not think emotionally;
indeed she emphasised by her personality the lack which caused his suffering.
Sidwell Warricombe suggested, more completely than any woman he had yet
observed, that companionship without which life must to the end taste bitter.
His interest in her was not strictly personal; she moved and spoke before him as
a typical woman, not as the daughter of Martin Warricombe and the sister of
Buckland. Here at last opened to his view that sphere of female society which he
had known as remotely existing, the desperate aim of ambition.
    Conventional women - but was not the phrase tautological? In the few females
who have liberated their souls, was not much of the woman inevitably sacrificed,
and would it not be so for long years to come? On the other hand, such a one as
Sidwell might be held a perfect creature, perfect in relation to a certain stage
of human development. Look at her, as she sat conversing with Moorhouse, soft
candle-light upon her face; compare her on the one hand with an average
emancipated girl, on the other with a daughter of the people. How unsatisfying
was the former; the latter, how repulsive! Here one had the exquisite mean, the
lady as England has perfected her