And at the end of them Mowbray Elsmere made his offer, and it was accepted.
The secret of it, of course, was overwork.

Mrs.Elsmere, from the little house in Morton Street where she had established herself, had watched her boy's meteoric career through those crowded months with very frequent misgivings.

No one knew better than she that Robert was constitutionally not of the toughest fibre, and she realized long before he did that the Oxford life as he was bent on leading it must end for him in premature breakdown.

But, as always happens, neither her remonstrance, nor Mr.Grey's common sense, nor Langham's fidgety protests had any effect on the young enthusiast to whom self-slaughter came so easy.

During the latter half of his third year of teaching he was continually being sent away by the doctors, and coming back only to break down again.