Sunday at Camford was a happy day for Julian Home. It was a day of
perfect leisure and rest; the time not spent at church or in the society
of others, he generally occupied in taking a longer walk than usual, or
in the luxuries of solemn and quiet thought. But the greatest enjoyment
was to revel freely in books, and devote himself unrestrained to the
gorgeous scenes of poetry, or the passionate pages of eloquent men; on
that day he drank deeply of pure streams that refreshed him for his
weekly work; nor did he forget some hour of commune, in the secrecy of
his chamber and the silence of his heart, with that God and Father in
whom alone he trusted, and to whom alone he looked for deliverance from
difficulty, and guidance under temptation. Of all hours his happiest
and strongest were those in which he was alone--alone except for a
heavenly presence, sitting at the feet of a Friend, and looking face to
face upon himself.
He had been reading Wordsworth since hall-time, when the ringing of the
chapel-bell summoned him to put on his surplice, and walk quietly down
to chapel. As there was plenty of time, he took a stroll or two across
the court before going in. While doing so, he met De Vayne, and in his
company suddenly found himself vis-a-vis with his old enemy Brogten.
"Hm!" whispered Brogten to his companion; "the sizars are getting on. A
sizar and a viscount arm-in-arm!"
Julian only heard enough of this sentence to be aware that it was highly
insolent; and the flush on De Vayne's cheek showed that he too had
caught something of its meaning.
"Never mind that boor's rudeness," he said. "I feel more than honoured
to be in the sizar's company. How admirably quiet you are, Julian,
under such conduct!"
"I try to be; not always with success, though," he answered, as his
breast swelled, and his lip quivered with indignation
"Scorn!--to be scorned by one that I scorn:
Is that a matter to make me fret?
Is that a matter to cause regret?
Stop! let's come into chapel."
They went into chapel together. De Vayne walked into the noblemen's
seats, and Julian, hot and angry, and with the words, "Scorn!--to be
scorned by one that I scorn," still ringing in his ears, strode up the
whole length of the chapel to the obscure corner set apart--is it not
very needlessly set apart?--for the sizars' use.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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