ld share it, was all blank and hopeless. She was to
him as part of his own soul, the center of his existence; he knew she
was beautiful beyond most women, he believed her nobler and truer than
most women had ever been. His faith in her was implicit; he loved her
as only noble men are capable of loving.

As time passed on his influence over her became unbounded. Quite
unconsciously to herself she worshiped him; unconsciously to herself her
thoughts, her ideas, all took their coloring from his. She who had
delighted in cynicism, whose beautiful lips had uttered such hard and
cruel words, now took from him a broader, clearer, kinder view of
mankind and human nature. If at times the old habit was too strong for
her, and some biting sarcasm would fall from her, some cold cynical
sneer, he would reprove her quite fearlessly.

"You are wrong, Miss Darrell--quite wrong," he would say. "The noblest
men have not been those who sneered at their fellow-men, but those who
have done their best to aid them. There is little nobility in a deriding
spirit."

And then her face would flush, her lips quiver, her eyes take the
grieved expression of a child who has been hurt.

"Can I help it," she would say, "when I hear what is false?"

"Your ridicule will not remedy it," he would reply. "You must take a
broader, more kindly view of matters. You think Mrs. Leigh deceitful,
Mrs. Vernon worldly; but, my dear Miss Darrell, do you remember this,
that in every woman and man there is something good, something to be
admired, some grand or noble quality? It may be half-hidden by faults,
but it is there, and for the sake of the good we must tolerate the bad.
No one is all bad. Men and women are, after all, created by God; and
there is some trace of the Divine image left in every one."

This was a new and startling theory to the girl who had looked down with
contempt not unmixed with scorn on her fellow-creatures--judging them by
a standard to which few ever attain.

"And you really believe there is something good in every one?" she
asked.

"Something not merely good, but noble. My secret conviction is that in
every soul there is the germ of something noble, even though
circumstances may never call it forth. As you grow older and see more of
the world, you will know that I am right."

"I believe you!" she cried, eagerly. "I always believe every word you
say!"

Her face flushed at the warmth of her words.

"You do me justice," he said. "I