Then he
laughed, and for the rest of the day felt more as he used to feel
before he had heard Mr. Hawke's sermon.
He returned to Cambridge for the Long Vacation of 1858 -none too
soon, for he had to go in for the Voluntary Theological Examination,
which bishops were now beginning to insist upon. He imagined all the
time he was reading that he was storing himself with the knowledge
that would best fit him for the work he had taken in hand. In truth,
he was cramming for a pass. In due time he did pass- creditably, and
was ordained Deacon with half-a-dozen others of his friends in the
autumn of 1858. He was then just twenty-three years old.
CHAPTER LI
ERNEST had been ordained to a curacy in one of the central parts
of London. He hardly knew anything of London yet, but his instincts
drew him thither. The day after he was ordained he entered upon his
duties- feeling much as his father had done when he found himself
boxed up in the carriage with Christina on the morning of his
marriage. Before the first three days were over, he became aware
that the light of the happiness, which he had known during his four
years at Cambridge had been extinguished, and he was appalled by the
irrevocable nature of the step which he now felt that he had taken
much too hurriedly.
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