To him the story would not appear incredible.
Youth, human nature, a passionate temperament; these explain so much to the unprejudiced mind.

Mr.Newthorpe must go with the rest.
For other acquaintances he cared nothing.
So his fate at last had declared itself.

Even though the all but impossible should befall, and Grail should still marry Thyrza, how could the schemes for common activity survive this shock?
Say what he might, he had no longer even the desire to work personally for the old aims.

How hard to believe that he was the same man who had lectured to that little band of hearers on English Literature, who had uttered with such vehemence the 'Thoughts for the Present!' That period of his life was gone by like smoke; the heart in which such enthusiasms were nourished had been swept by an all-consuming fire.

Henceforth he must live for himself, the vainest of all lives.