f course; and
although, in his opinion, it was somewhat extraordinary that a young
lady should be attracted by Holden, he accounted for the circumstance
by ascribing it to the romance in her nature, of which she had no
common share.

The contrast was strong betwixt the appearance of the two men. On
the one hand, in perfect harmony with the adornment of the handsome
parlor, stood the delicate person of Mr. Armstrong, with cropped hair
and close-shaven face, in a suit of fine black cloth and muslin cravat
of spotless white, representing a refined, perhaps enervated phase of
civilization; on the other, the stately and vigorous form of Holden,
in a clean but coarse gray frock, girt around the waist with a sash,
with long hair falling on his neck, and unshorn beard, looking like
one better acquainted with the northern blast than with the comforts
of curtains and carpets.

"It is not often, brother Holden," said Mr. Armstrong, addressing him
by an epithet sometimes applied to him, "that I am so fortunate as to
meet you in my house."

"Dost thou speak from the heart, James Armstrong," replied Holden, "or
art thou flattering me with empty conventionalities?"

The melancholy face of Mr. Armstrong looked distressed, but,
remembering the wayward humor of the other, he gently answered:

"I am sorry the form of expression displeases you; but I assure you I
am glad to see you."

"Nay," said Holden, "let me rather beg pardon for my rudeness; and
that I fully believe thee, be my presence here the proof. I owe thee
many obligations through thy daughter, and there are times when it
does me good to be with her. It is then I fancy I hear in her voice
the tones of the long lost, and they come not with a wail of sorrow,
but like a welcome and an invitation."

"The lost!" softly said Armstrong, falling insensibly, and as by some
mesmeric process, into a corresponding train of feeling, "the lost!
how soon drop away from our sides those who made the morning of life
so pleasant!"

"Man is born to trouble, as the sparks fly upward," said Holden. "He
cometh from the womb of darkness, and returneth thither again."

The two men drew their chairs nearer each other. It seemed as if a new
community of thought and feeling had been established between them.

"You have suffered," said Armstrong, "perhaps lost all your dear ones,
and, in that, more miserable than I; for, have I not left my Faith?
But the hand that inflicted the wound can heal,