Publisher's Synopsis
When Professor Linyard came back from his holiday in the Maine woods the air of rejuvenationhe brought with him was due less to the influences of the climate than to the companionship he hadenjoyed on his travels. To Mrs. Linyard's observant eye he had appeared to set out alone; but aninvisible traveller had in fact accompanied him, and if his heart beat high it was simply at the pitchof his adventure: for the Professor had eloped with an idea.No one who has not tried the experiment can divine its exhilaration. Professor Linyard wouldnot have changed places with any hero of romance pledged to a flesh-and-blood abduction. Themost fascinating female is apt to be encumbered with luggage and scruples: to take up a good deal ofroom in the present and overlap inconveniently into the future; whereas an idea can accommodateitself to a single molecule of the brain or expand to the circumference of the horizon. TheProfessor's companion had to the utmost this quality of adaptability. As the express train whirledhim away from the somewhat inelastic circle of Mrs. Linyard's affections, his idea seemed to besitting opposite him, and their eyes met every moment or two in a glance of joyous complicity; yetwhen a friend of the family presently joined him and began to talk about college matters, the ideaslipped out of sight in a flash, and the Professor would have had no difficulty in proving that he wasalone.But if, from the outset, he found his idea the most agreeable of fellow-travellers, it was only inthe aromatic solitude of the woods that he tasted the full savour of his adventure. There, during thelong cool August days, lying full length on the pine-needles and gazing up into the sky, he wouldmeet the eyes of his companion bending over him like a nearer heaven. And what eyes they were!-clear yet unfathomable, bubbling with inexhaustible laughter, yet drawing their freshness and sparklefrom the central depths of thought! To a man who for twenty years had faced an eye reflecting theobvious with perfect accuracy, these escapes into the inscrutable had always been peculiarly inviting;but hitherto the Professor's mental infidelities had been restricted by an unbroken and relentlessdomesticity. Now, for the first time since his marriage, chance had given him six weeks to himself, and he was coming home with his lungs full of liberty
