He supposed himself to have
been animated by the desire to establish a principle in which he really
believed, to conquer and humiliate the Secretary, and to please himself
by acting an amusing _role_; while in truth he had been instigated by
his dominant selfish instinct of self-preservation. But he thoroughly
enjoyed his triumph, and by the time he left the house he seemed to
have established himself on quite a new footing of friendship with even
the members of the Executive Committee.
As he went down the steps of the club, starting for home, Chauncy
Wilson said to him, with his usual rough jocularity,--
"I'll bet you a quarter, Fenton, you did bring Snaffle in that night,
after all. By the way, did you know that Princeton Platinum had gone
all to flinders?"
XXVII
UPON A CHURCH BENCH.
Much Ado about Nothing; iii.--3.
When Fenton went to the club that night he left Helen Greyson and Mr.
Candish, both of whom were sufficiently familiar to excuse the
informality. The combination of the clergyman and the sculptor might
seem likely to be incongruous, but the two had much more in common than
at first sight appeared. Fenton had been right in declaring that Helen
was by instinct a Puritan. It was true that she had shaken herself free
from all the fetters of old creeds and that her religious beliefs were
of the most liberal.
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