eart without its weary load,
no spirit without that touch of sorrow that should teach submission.
Reflect well over this, dear boy; and never forget that though at times
we put off our troubles as a wayfarer lays down his pack, we must just
strap on the load again when we take to the road, for it is a burden we
have to bear to the journey's end."

Not all the moral reflections of this note saved it from being crushed
passionately in his hand as he finished reading it. That walk, that
moonlight walk, with whom could it have been? with whom but Maitland?
And it was by her--by her that his whole heart was filled,--her image,
her voice, her gait, her smile, her faintest whisper, that made up the
world in which he lived. Who could love her as _he_ did? Others would
have their hopes and ambitions, their dreams of worldly success, and
such like; but he,--he asked none of these; _her_ heart was all he
strove for. With her he would meet any fortune. He knew she was above
him in every way,--as much by every gift and grace as by every accident
of station; but what did that signify? The ardor of his love glowed only
the stronger for the difficulty,--just as his courage would have mounted
the higher, the more hazardous the feat that dared it. These were his
reasonings,--or rather some shadowy shapes of these flitted through his
mind.

And was it now all over? Was the star that had guided him so long to
be eclipsed from him? Was he never again to ask himself in a moment of
difficulty or doubt, What will Alice say?--what will Alice think? As for
the scandalous tongues that dared to asperse her, he scorned them; and
he was indignant with the old minister for not making that very letter
itself the reason of accepting a proposal he had been until then averse
to. He should have said, "_Now_ there can be no hesitation,--Dolly must
go with you _now_." It was just as his musings got thus far that Skeffy
rushed into the room and seized him by both hands.

"Ain't I glad to see your great sulky face again? Sit down and tell me
everything--how you came--when----how long you 're to stay--and what
brought you here."

"I came with despatches,--that is, I ought to have had them."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that some of the bags I left at Tarin; and one small fellow,
which I take to have been the cream of the correspondence, Chamberlayne
carried on here,--at least I hope so. Have n't you got it?"

"What infernal muddle are your brains in?