Page 800 - middlemarch

earth under the hedgerow, which soiled his perfect summer
trousers. Was it his successful onset which had elated him,
or the satisfaction of helping Mary’s father? Something
more. The accidents of the morning had helped his frustrat-
ed imagination to shape an employment for himself which
had several attractions. I am not sure that certain fibres in
Mr. Garth’s mind had not resumed their old vibration to-
wards the very end which now revealed itself to Fred. For
the effective accident is but the touch of fire where there is
oil and tow; and it al ways appeared to Fred that the railway
brought the needed touch. But they went on in silence ex-
cept when their business demanded speech. At last, when
they had finished and were walking away, Mr. Garth said—
‘A young fellow needn’t be a B. A. to do this sort of work,
eh, Fred?’
‘I wish I had taken to it before I had thought of being a B.
A.,’ said Fred. He paused a moment, and then added, more
hesitatingly, ‘Do you think I am too old to learn your busi-
ness, Mr. Garth?’
‘My business is of many sorts, my boy,’ said Mr. Garth,
smiling. ‘A good deal of what I know can only come from
experience: you can’t learn it off as you learn things out
of a book. But you are young enough to lay a foundation
yet.’ Caleb pronounced the last sentence emphatically, but
paused in some uncertainty. He had been under the im-
pression lately that Fred had made up his mind to enter the
Church.
‘You do think I could do some good at it, if I were to try?’
said Fred, more eagerly.