e most
prophetic of the destiny which is before their child. Many indeed and
various are the hopes and fears felt under that roof, and deeply will
their lights and shadows be blended in the life of the being whose
claims are so strong upon their love. There, for some time past the
lights in the window have appeared less frequently--one by one we
presume the inmates have gone to repose--no other is now visible--the
last candle is extinguished, and this humble section of the great
family of man is now at rest with the veil of a dark and fearful future
unlifted before them.

There is not perhaps in the series of human passions any one so
difficult to be eradicated out of the bosom as avarice, no matter with
what seeming moderation it puts itself forth, or under what disguise it
may appear. And among all its cold-blooded characteristics there is none
so utterly unaccountable as that frightful dread of famine and ultimate
starvation, which is also strong in proportion to the impossibility of
its ever being realized. Indeed, when it arrives to this we should not
term it a passion, but a malady, and in our opinion the narrow-hearted
patient should be prudently separated from society, and treated as one
laboring under an incurable species of monomania.

During the few days that intervened between our hero's birth and his
christening, Fardorougha's mind was engaged in forming some fixed
principle by which to guide his heart in the conflict that still went on
between avarice and affection. In this task he imagined that the father
predominated over the miser almost without a struggle; whereas, the fact
was, that the subtle passion, ever more ingenious than the simple
one, changed its external character, and came out in the shape of
affectionate forecast and provident regard for the wants and prospects
of his child. This gross deception of his own heart he felt as a relief;
for, though smitten with the world, it did not escape him that the
birth of his little one, all its circumstances considered, ought to have
caused him to feel an enjoyment unalloyed by the care and regret which
checked his sympathies as a parent. Neither was conscience itself
altogether silent, nor the blunt remonstrances of his servants wholly
without effect. Nay, so completely was his judgment overreached that he
himself attributed this anomalous state of feeling to a virtuous effort
of Christian duty, and looked upon the encroachments which a desire of
savi