Robert went to his room conscious of a momentary check of feeling.
But it soon passed, and he sat up late, thinking of the sermon, or pouring out in a letter to his mother the new hero-worship of which his mind was full.
A few days later, as it happened, came an invitation to the junior exhibitioner to spend an evening at Mr.Grey's house.

Elsmere went in a state of curious eagerness and trepidation, and came away with a number of fresh impressions which, when he had put them into order, did but quicken his new-born sense of devotion.

The quiet unpretending house, with its exquisite neatness and its abundance of books, the family life, with the heart-happiness underneath, and the gentle trust and courtesy on the surface, the little touches of austerity which betrayed themselves here and there in the household ways--all these surroundings stole into the lad's imagination, touched in him responsive fibres of taste and feeling.
But there was some surprise, too, mingled with the charm.

He came, still shaken, as it were, by the power of the sermon, expecting to see in the preacher of it the outward and visible signs of a leadership which, as he already knew, was a great force in Oxford life.

His mood was that of the disciple only eager to be enrolled.