I've often felt the want of it.' Egremont fell into musing for a moment.

He looked up with an idea in his eyes.
'Wouldn't it be an excellent thing if one could establish a lending library in Lambeth ?' Grail might have excusably replied that it would be a yet more excellent thing if those disposed to use such an institution had time granted them to do so; but with the young man's keen look fixed upon him, he had other thoughts.
'It would be a great thing!' he replied, with subdued feeling.

He seldom allowed his stronger emotions to find high utterance; that moderated voice was symbol of the suppression to which his life had trained itself.
'A free library,' Egremont went on, 'with a good reading-room.' It was an extension of his scheme, and delighted him with its prospect of possibilities.

It would be preparing the ground upon which he and his adherents might subsequently work.

Could be undertake to found a library at his own expense?
It was not beyond his means, at all events a beginning on a moderate scale.