One morning the idea possessed him that he must have a horse for riding, and he could not rest till the horse was purchased and in his stable.

It occurred to him once at dinner time that there were sundry delicacies which he knew by name but had never tasted; forthwith he gave orders that these delicacies should be supplied to him, and so there appeared upon his breakfast table a _pate de foie gras_.

Very similar in kind was his desire to possess Adela Waltham.
And the voice of his conscience lost potency, though it troubled him more than ever, even as a beggar will sometimes become rudely clamorous when he sees that there is no real hope of extracting an alms.

Richard was embarked on the practical study of moral philosophy; he learned more in these months of the constitution of his inner being than all his literature of 'free thought' had been able to convey to him.

To break with Emma, to cast his faith to the winds, to be branded henceforth in the sight of his intimate friends as a mere traitor, and an especially mean one to boot--that at the first blush was of the things so impossible that one does not trouble to study their bearings.