When, therefore, he was suddenly thrown into the society of a woman of such intellectual power, his mind seemed as it were to awake, and her influence and his own reviving energies kindled within him a desire for action which increased with each day that passed.

The tiresome and uninteresting work of his daily life seemed aimless to him.

He must find some other means of publishing his convictions--this was now clear to him.

He went, therefore, to his adviser, ready to engage in any combat into which she might think fit to send him.
Rachel generally did at home pretty much as she liked.

She disdained all the hundred restraints which are generally considered so necessary for a young girl; they plainly did not apply in her case--she was so different to others.