Fairly well liked amongst the men
with whom he mixed, he could hardly be called popular; his temperament
was too uncertain for that. At times he was the gayest of the gay, and
then when the fit took him he would be plunged into a state of gloomy
depression that might last for days. His companions, to whom his
mystical studies were a favourite jest, were wont to assert that on
these occasions he was preparing for a visit from his familiar, but
the joke was one that he never could be prevailed upon to appreciate.
The fact of the matter was that these fits of gloom were
constitutional with him, and very possibly had their origin in the
state of his mother's mind before his birth, when her whole thoughts
were coloured by her morbid and fanciful terror of her husband, and
her frantic anxiety to conciliate him.
During the three years that he spent at college, Philip saw but little
of George, since, when he happened to be down at Bratham, which was
not often, for he spent most of his vacations abroad, George avoided
coming there as much as possible. Indeed, there was a tacit agreement
between the two young men that they would see as little of each other
as might be convenient.
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