THE MEED OF CURIOSITY The next morning my exaltation had gone.

I woke a prey to despondency and sickness of soul.

Not only did difficulty loom large, and failure seem inevitable, but a disgust for all that surrounded me seized on my mind, displacing the zest of adventure and the excitement of enterprise.
But let me not set my virtue too high.

It is better to be plain.

Old maxims of morality, and a standard of right acknowledged by all but observed by none, have little power over a young man's hot blood; to be stirred to indignation, he must see the wrong threaten one he respects, touch one he loves, or menace his own honour and pride.