tion to the scene before him, he appeared to have
been led more by the influence of example than by his own spontaneous
feelings; for ever and anon he looked impatiently round upon his friend
as if expecting him to speak--but no word or movement escaped his
thoughtful companion. Occupied exclusively in his own contemplations,
he appeared wholly insensible to any ordinary outward appeal.

In age and appearance this individual was in the decline of life; for
he had numbered sixty years, his hair was completely grey, and his face
was covered with deep wrinkles. Yet, in spite of these disadvantages,
he was in the highest sense of the word a handsome man. Though worn
and thin, his features were still bold and regular; and there was an
elevation about the habitual mournfulness of his expression, and an
intelligence about his somewhat severe and earnest eyes, that bore
eloquent testimony to the superiority of his intellectual powers. As
he now stood gazing fixedly out into the glowing sky, his tall, meagre
figure half supported upon his staff, his lips firmly compressed, his
brow slightly frowning, and his attitude firm and motionless, the most
superficial observer must have felt immediately that he looked on no
ordinary being. The history of a life of deep thought--perhaps of long
sorrow--seemed written in every lineament of his meditative
countenance; and there was a natural dignity in his manner, which
evidently restrained his restless companion from offering any
determined interruption to the course of his reflections.

Slowly and gorgeously the sun had continued to wane in the horizon
until he was now lost to view. As his last rays sunk behind the
distant hills, the stranger started from his reverie and approached the
landholder, pointing with his staff towards the fast-fading brightness
of the western sky.

'Probus,' said he, in a low, melancholy voice, 'as I looked on that
sunset I thought on the condition of the Church.'

'I see little in the Church to think of, or in the sunset to observe,'
replied his companion.

'How pure, how vivid,' murmured the other, scarcely heeding the
landholder's remark, 'was the light which that sun cast upon this earth
at our feet! How nobly for a time its brightness triumphed over the
shadows around; and yet, in spite of the promise of that radiance, how
swiftly did it fade ere long in its conflict with the gloom--how
thoroughly, even now, has it departed from the earth, and wi