Thus and so forth went the unrestful soul of the young man, who was even then writing his undecided mind into a novel, and by that token giving evidence of an ignorance as essential as his father's, different in kind but not in degree.
CHAPTER XXII
HOME AGAIN
Two days before Henry had planned to leave London for his holiday at home, Adrian Grant looked in upon him hurriedly at the Watchman office to ask if it were possible for him to secure accommodation at Hampton.
"You!" exclaimed Henry, in surprise, and something akin to a feeling of shame for the meagre possibilities of entertainment at his home flushed his face.
"Why not?" said his friend, with a smile. "I know less than nothing of English rural life, and it came to me as an inspiration this morning that here was a chance to try the effect of country quiet at home. I have a bit of work to finish, and most of my writing has been done abroad in drowsy places. Strange I have never tried our own rural shades, though I produce but little either in London or at Laysford."
"It's an idea, certainly," Henry observed, in a very uncertain tone. "I'm sorry my people—"
"Of course, I would not dream of troubling your folk, but I suppose there's such a thing as a village inn even in your secluded corner of earth."