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                     THE WIZARD'S SON

                         A Novel

                     BY MRS. OLIPHANT

    AUTHOR OF "THE CURATE IN CHARGE," "YOUNG MUSGRAVE," ETC.


    IN THREE VOLUMES
    VOL. III.

    London
    MACMILLAN AND CO.
    1884

    [_The Right of Translation and Reproduction is Reserved_]

    LONDON:
    R. CLAY, SONS, AND TAYLOR, PRINTERS,
    BREAD STREET HILL.




THE WIZARD'S SON.




CHAPTER I.


Was this then the conclusion of all things--that there was nothing so
perfect that it was worth a man's while to struggle for it; that any
officious interference with the recognised and existing was a mistake;
that nothing was either the best or the worst, but all things mere
degrees in a round of the comparative, in which a little more or a
little less was of no importance, and the most strenuous efforts tended
to failure as much as indifference? Walter, returning to the old house
which was his field of battle, questioned himself thus, with a sense of
despair not lessened by the deeper self-ridicule within him, which
asked, was he then so anxious for the best, so ready to sacrifice his
comfort for an ideal excellence? That he, of all men, should have this
to do, and yet that, being done, it should be altogether ineffectual,
was a sort of climax of clumsy mortal failure