w the breath of life is
awe-inspiring, wrapped in the mystery of death. It seems as if the
invisible spirit might avenge the insult offered to its impassive,
deserted companion. But absence has no such commanding power. If the
mind has been enthralled by the influence of personal fascination, there
is generally a sudden reaction. The judgment, liberated from captivity,
exerts its newly recovered strength, and becomes more arbitrary and
uncompromising for the bondage it has endured.

Now Bryant Clinton was gone, Mr. Gleason wondered at his own
infatuation. No longer spell-bound by the magic of his eye, and the
alluring grace of his manners, he could recall a thousand circumstances
which had previously made no impression on his mind. He blamed himself
for allowing Louis to continue in such close intimacy with one, of whose
parentage and early history he knew nothing. He blamed himself still
more, for permitting his daughter such unrestricted intercourse with a
young man so dangerously attractive. He blamed himself still more, for
consenting to the departure of his son with a companion, in whose
principles he did not confide, and of whose integrity he had many
doubts. Why had he suffered this young man to wind around the household
in smooth and shining coils, insinuating himself deeper and deeper into
the heart, and binding closer and closer the faculties which might
condemn, and the will that might resist his sorcery?

He blushed one moment for his weakness, the next upbraided himself for
the harshness of his judgment, for the uncharitableness of his
conclusions. The first letter which he received from Louis, did not
remove his apprehensions. He said Clinton had changed his plans. He did
not intend to return immediately to Virginia, but to travel awhile
first, and visit some friends, whom he had neglected for the charming
home he had just quitted. Louis dwelt with eloquent diffuseness on the
advantages of traveling with such a companion, of the fine opportunity
he had of seeing something of the world, after leading the student's
monotonous and secluded life. Enclosed in this letter were bills of a
large amount, contracted at college, of whose existence the father was
perfectly unconscious. No reference was made to these, save in the
postscript, most incoherent in expression, and written evidently with an
unsteady hand. He begged his father to forgive him for having
forgotten--the word _forgotten_ was partially erased, an