I do not believe in their intelligence or their
power--they have nothing new about them at all, nothing creative nor
rejuvenescent, no more than a disorderly instinct of acquisition; and
the prevalence of them and their kind is but a phase in the broad slow
decay of the great social organism of England. They could not have made
Bladesover they cannot replace it; they just happen to break out over
it--saprophytically.
Well--that was my last impression of Bladesover.
CHAPTER THE THIRD
THE WIMBLEHURST APPRENTICESHIP
I
So far as I can remember now, except for that one emotional phase by the
graveside, I passed through all these experiences rather callously. I
had already, with the facility of youth, changed my world, ceased to
think at all of the old school routine and put Bladesover aside for
digestion at a latter stage. I took up my new world in Wimblehurst with
the chemist's shop as its hub, set to work at Latin and materia medica,
and concentrated upon the present with all my heart. Wimblehurst is an
exceptionally quiet and grey Sussex town rare among south of England
towns in being largely built of stone.
Pages:
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116