s to
which I held most firmly,--such as early hours of rising and going to
bed, temperate diet and simplicity of raiment; but as it was just as
incumbent upon me to avoid the other extreme, the changes were not
sufficiently marked to excite attention.

The traveller who looks back at night upon a highway sees a long trail
of shadow, broken at recurring intervals by the blaze of lamps. Such is
the effect of life in retrospect. Much of that which we remember
concerning the past is vague and dim, yet here and there along the road
some incident stands out which explains and illumines what follows and
precedes.

It is difficult for me to analyze more closely than I have done my
feelings and thoughts during the period in which I studied the
principles of moderation. But the events of three days at its close are
indelibly impressed upon my memory. For several weeks during the autumn,
Paul Barr had been hard at work upon a picture in regard to which he had
seen fit to be mysterious, although he became enthusiastic as to its
merits before it was nearly finished. No piece of painting that he had
ever attempted was so satisfactory to him, he said, both in the way of
conception and performance. So confident was he of its excellence, that
I began at last to share his excitement, and expressed a wish to see the
masterpiece. But he was resolute in his determination that no one should
see it until its completion, and least of all I.

Curious as I felt concerning it,--for one could never be sure that Paul
Barr was not a genius,--I was in no haste to have the picture finished,
for the artist's own sake. So deep and breathless was his interest, that
he had become regular in his hours and habits. He seemed to realize that
the best work required a steady hand and an unwearied eye. If I took
some slight credit to myself for this change in his methods, it was not
unnatural; and yet I was not so far elated as to feel wholly confident
it would last. When he had put the finishing touch to his wonderful
creation, would he abstain from the dissipation and self-indulgent
idleness that was apt to follow any concentration on his part? I liked
to believe that this would be the case; and as I cherished the idea, it
grew almost into absolute faith.

I have said that Aunt Agnes and I were on pleasant terms; but there was
one speck on the mirror of her serenity which threatened at times to
mar the whole. It was my intimacy with Mr. Barr. Some one had