CHAPTER III.
'_Pereunt et imputantur_.' Godwin Peak read the motto beneath the clock in Exeter Cathedral, and believed it of Christian origin.

Had he known that the words were found in Martial, his rebellious spirit would have enjoyed the consecration of a phrase from such an unlikely author.

Even as he must have laughed had he stood in the Vatican before the figures of those two Greek dramatists who, for ages, were revered as Christian saints.
His ignorance preserved him from a clash of sentiments.

This afternoon he was not disposed to cynicism; rather he welcomed the softening influence of this noble interior, and let the golden sunlight form what shapes it would--heavenly beam, mystic aureole--before his mind's eye.
Architecture had no special interest for him, and the history of church or faith could seldom touch his emotions; but the glorious handiwork of men long dead, the solemn stillness of an ancient sanctuary, made that appeal to him which is independent of names.
'_Pereunt et imputantur_.' He sat down where the soft, slow ticking of the clock could guide his thoughts.

This morning he had left London by the earliest train, and after a night in Exeter would travel westward by leisurely stages, seeing as much as possible of the coast and of that inland scenery which had geological significance.