character of the departed; but it passed
away rather as an evidence of the utter powerlessness of nature, in a faint
heave of the reactive energy, telling at once how little she could perform,
yet how much was necessary to overcome the weight by which she was
oppressed. I sat for some moments silent by the side of the bed, and
meditated a recourse to some more strenuous effort directed to his sense of
duty as a parent; though I was aware, that until the heart is in some
degree relieved, all such appeals are too often vain, if not rather
attended with unfavourable effects, but, in extreme cases, we are not
entitled to rest upon the generality of theories where so various and
mutable an essence as the human mind is the object to which they are to be
applied. I was on the point of making a trial, by recurring to the position
of his son and daughter, when I heard the sound of a horse's feet
approaching, with great rapidity, the door. The sister started; and I could
hear Martha open the window above, to ascertain who might be the visiter.
In another moment the outer door opened with a loud clang. Some one
approached along the passage, in breathless haste. He entered. It was
George B----, under the excitement of some strong internal emotion; his
eyes gleaming with a fearful light, and his limbs shaking violently. He
stood for a moment as if he were gathering his energies to speak; but the
words stuck in his throat, the sounds died away amidst the noise of an
indistinct jabbering. I noticed the eye of his father fixed upon him,
betraying only a very slight increase of animation; but even this
extraordinary demeanour of his son did not draw from him a question; so
utterly dead to all external impulses had his grief made him, that the
harrowing cause of so much excitement in his son, remained unquestioned by
the feelings of the parent. In another moment the youth was stretched
across the bed, locking the father in his embrace, and sobbing out
inarticulate words, none of which I could understand. The aunt was as much
at a loss to solve the mystery of the violent paroxysm as myself; for some
time neither of us could put a question; the sobbings of the youth seemed
to chain up our tongues by the charm of the eloquence of nature's
impassioned language. Meanwhile, Martha entered, ran forward to the
bedside, lifted her brother from the position which he occupied, and seated
him, by the application of some force, on the empty chair that