The Reverend Mr. Simon Rolles had distinguished himself in the

Moral Sciences, and was more than usually proficient in the study

of Divinity. His essay "On the Christian Doctrine of the Social

Obligations" obtained for him, at the moment of its production, a

certain celebrity in the University of Oxford; and it was

understood in clerical and learned circles that young Mr. Rolles

had in contemplation a considerable work - a folio, it was said -

on the authority of the Fathers of the Church. These attainments,

these ambitious designs, however, were far from helping him to any

preferment; and he was still in quest of his first curacy when a

chance ramble in that part of London, the peaceful and rich aspect

of the garden, a desire for solitude and study, and the cheapness

of the lodging, led him to take up his abode with Mr. Raeburn, the

nurseryman of Stockdove Lane.

It was his habit every afternoon, after he had worked seven or

eight hours on St. Ambrose or St. Chrysostom, to walk for a while

in meditation among the roses. And this was usually one of the

most productive moments of his day. But even a sincere appetite

for thought, and the excitement of grave problems awaiting

solution, are not always sufficient to preserve the mind of the

philosopher against the petty shocks and contacts of the world.

And when Mr. Rolles found General Vandeleur's secretary, ragged and

bleeding, in the company of his landlord; when he saw both change

colour and seek to avoid his questions; and, above all, when the

former denied his own identity with the most unmoved assurance, he

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