‘And you have passed a winter at Rome,’ said Coningsby. ‘How I envy you! I feel that I shall never be able to travel.’
‘And why not?’
‘Life has become so stirring, that there is ever some great cause that keeps one at home.’
‘Life, on the contrary, so swift, that all may see now that of which they once could only read.’
‘The golden and silver sides of the shield,’ said Coningsby, with a smile.
‘And you, like a good knight, will maintain your own.’
‘No, I would follow yours.’
‘You have not heard lately from Oswald?’
‘Oh, yes; I think there are no such faithful correspondents as we are; I only wish we could meet.’
‘You will soon; but he is such a devotee of Oxford; quite a monk; and you, too, Mr. Coningsby, are much occupied.’