hat's
your name and occupation? for there's nothing like knowing the ground
a man stands on. I know you're a stranger in this neighborhood, for I
assure you there is not a face in the parish but I am as well acquainted
with as my own, and indeed a great deal betther, in regard that I
never shave with a looking-glass. I tried it once or twice and was near
committing suicide in the attempt."

There was something so kind, frank, yet withal so eccentric, and, as
it would seem, so unconsciously humorous in the worthy father's manner,
that the stranger, whilst he felt embarrassed by the good-natured
bluntness of his interrogations, could not help experiencing a sensation
that was equally novel and delightful, arising as it did from the candor
and honesty of purpose that were so evident in all the worthy man did
and said.

"I should never have supposed, from the remarkable taste of your dress
and your general appearance," he replied, "that you make your toilet
without a looking-glass."

"It's a fact, though; neither I nor my worthy father before me ever
troubled one; we left them to the girshas and the women; habit is
everything, and for that reason I could shave as well at midnight as at
the hour of noon. However, let us pass that by, thank God I can go out
with as clane a face, and I trust with as clear a conscience, always
barring the passions that Mat Euly puts me into, as some of my
neighbors; yet, God forgive me, why should I boast? for I know and
feel that I fall far short of my duty in every sense, especially when I
reflect how much of poverty and destitution are scattered through this
apparently wealthy parish. God forgive me, then, for the boast I made,
for it was both wrong and sinful!"

A touch of feeling which it would be difficult to describe, but which
raised him still more highly in the estimation of the stranger, here
passed over his handsome and benevolent features, but after it had
passed away he returned at once to the object of the stranger's visit.

"Well," said he, "to pass now from my omissions and deficiencies, let us
return to the point we were talking of; you haven't told me your name,
or occupation, or profession, or business of any kind--that is, if you
have any?"

"I assure you, reverend sir," replied the other, "that I am at the
present moment placed in such a position, that I fear it is out of my
power to satisfy you in any of these points. Whilst, at the same time,
I confess that, namel