THE AUSTINS 75 



monstrous even for the Austins ; and indeed it 

 would seem as if that tide of reform which we may 

 date from the days of Mary Wollstonecraft had in 

 some degree even receded ; for though Miss Austin 

 was suffered to learn Greek, the accomplishment was 

 kept secret like a piece of guilt. But whether this 

 stealth was caused by a backward movement in 

 public thought since the time of Edward Barren, 

 or by the change from enlightened Norwich to 

 barbarian London, I have no means of judging. 



When Fleeming presented his letter, he fell in Fieeming 

 love at first sight with Mrs. Austin and the life Austins. 

 and atmosphere of the house. There was in the 

 society of the Austins, outward, stoical conformers 

 to the world, something gravely suggestive of essen- 

 tial eccentricity, something unpretentiously breath- 

 ing of intellectual effort, that could not fail to hit 

 the fancy of this hot-brained boy. The unbroken 

 enamel of courtesy, the self-restraint, the dignified 

 kindness of these married folk, had besides a 

 particular attraction for their visitor. He could 

 not but compare what he saw, with what he knew 

 of his mother and himself. Whatever virtues 

 Fleeming possessed, he could never count on being 

 civil ; whatever brave, true-hearted qualities he 

 was able to admire in Mrs. Jenkin, mildness of 

 demeanour was not one of them. And here he found 

 persons who were the equals of his mother and 

 himself in intellect and width of interest, and the 



