A lover of all truly imaginative literature, his knowledge of it was large, nor confined to that of his own country, although that alone was at present available for either of his pupils.
His seclusion from what is called the world had brought him into larger and closer contact with what is really the world.

The breakers upon reef and shore may be the ocean to some, but he who would know the ocean indeed must leave them afar, sinking into silence, and sail into wider and lonelier spaces.

Through Godfrey, Mary came to know of a land never promised, yet open--a land of whose nature even she had never dreamed--a land of the spirit, flowing with milk and honey--a land of which the fashionable world knows little more than the dwellers in the back slums, although it imagines it lying, with the kingdoms of the earth, at its feet.
As regards her feeling toward her new friend, this opener of unseen doors, the greatness of her obligation to him wrought against presumption and any possible folly.

Besides, Mary was one who possessed power over her own spirit--rare gift, given to none but those who do something toward the taking of it.

She was able in no small measure to order her own thoughts.