With a quick repulsion Loder shook him off; then almost as
quickly he turned round.
"What fools we all are!" he said, abruptly. "We, only differ
in degree. Come in, and let us change our clothes."
XIII
The best moments of a man's life are the moments when, strong
in himself, he feels that the world lies before him.
Gratified ambition may be the summer, but anticipation is the
ardent spring-time of a man's career.
As Loder drove that night frown Fleet Street to Grosvenor
Square he realized this--though scarcely with any degree of
consciousness--for he was no accomplished self-analyst. But
in a wave of feeling too vigorous to be denied he recognized
his regained foothold--the step that lifted him at once from
the pit to the pinnacle.
In that moment of realization he looked neither backward nor
forward. The present was all-sufficing. Difficulties might
loom ahead, but difficulties had but one object--the testing
and sharpening of a man's strength. In the first deep surge
of egotistical feeling he almost rejoiced in Chilcote's
weakness.
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