of birth, which shuddered more at the thought of
a stain upon the family escutcheon than at all the crimes which may
canker and corrode the heart.

"My mother is not living," continued he; "but how know you this?"

"It don't matter, stranger. Have you seen your father lately?"

"Not for many years. I am an outcast from his presence," replied Vernon,
with some appearance of feeling.

"That's onfortunate; does he know what sort of a lark you are?"

"I hope not," replied Vernon, with a sickly smile.

"But he does; he knows all about this ongodly scrape you got into last
night."

"What mean you?" said the ruffian, sternly.

"Mean? Why, just exactly what I say, Mr. Vaudelier! Don't start! I know
you as well as you know yourself."

Vernon bit his lips; he was confounded at hearing his name uttered,--a
name which had not greeted his ears for many years. His passion was
disarmed before the rude but cutting speech of the woodman, whose
knowledge of human nature, bred in the woods as he had been, was
remarkable. There are men in the world, supposed to be entirely
intractable, who, when rightly approached, prove as gentle as lambs.
There is no evil without its antidote, however deeply it may be hid from
the knowledge of man; and there is no man so vile that he cannot be
reformed. The image of God, marred and disfigured as it may be, exists
in every man, as the faultless statue exists in the rough block of
marble; from which, when the fashioning hand, aided by the magic of
genius, touches it, the imago of beauty shall come forth. So, when man,
in whom always exists the elements of the highest character, shall be
approached by the true reformer,--the highest and truest genius,--the
bright ideal shall assume the actual form.

The woodman had touched a chord in the heart of the gambler which
vibrated at his touch. It was not the words, but the genuine sympathy
with which they were laden, that overcame the indifference of the
vicious man. Perceiving his advantage, the woodman followed it up,
repeatedly disarming the bolt of passion, which was poised in the mind
of his auditor.

"Your father," said Jerry, "is a good man, and you mought go round the
world without finding a better."

"Very true!" replied Vernon, moved to a degree he was unwilling to
acknowledge.

"Now, if you jest turn over a new leaf in the book of life, and try to
fotch out right in the end, I believe the old man would cry quits on the
old score."

"