Part 4 (1/2)
”That will do, Judge Bernard, that will do,” said his wife; ”do not try again, for you cannot juh twice”
”Tut, tut, Mary; what do you know about the higher poetics? I defy you to find such sublimities either in Milton or Dante”
”I can easily believe it,” said Mrs Bernard
At thisthe roo and his daughter having reer, took leave and returned ho visitors
Upon his return, Mr Ar sank upon a seat with an air of weariness
”Come, Faith,” he said, ”and sit byof the insensibility of the world to their condition Ho perceive the precipice on the edge of which they stand!”
His daughter, as accusto his hand to her lips, kissed it without saying anything, knowing that he would soon explain hi, ”is wiser, the thoughtless frivolity of Judge Bernard, or the sad watchfulness of Holden?”
”I ae, dear father; but if they both act according to their convictions of right, are they not doing their duty?”
”You ask a difficult question To be sure ht, but let theet them, and what they are Yet, can one choose his ideas? These things puzzle hter, ”than live by the light we have? Surely I cannot be responsible for norance”
”How far we norance we call involuntary, it is iht, belonging to years ago and even repented of since, may project its dark shadow into the present, and pervert the judgment We are fearfully made”
”Why pain yourself, dearest father, with speculations of this character? Our Maker knows our weakness and will pardon our infirmities”
”I am an illustration of the subject of our conversation,” continued Ar which he had re on his hand ”I knoould not, willingly, harshly judge another--for who authorized me to pass sentence? Yet these ideas would force themselves into hbor! There is sole to correct”
We coive an idea of the state of Mr Ar's ht he prayed fervently for forgiveness of his error, repeatedly upbraiding hi that he inations
CHAPTER IV
O! I could whisper thee a tale, That surely would thy pity ht speak its love?
To tell that tale ue its office, too, denies, Then uid eyes
ANONYMOUS
After the expiration of a fortnight, Pownal could find no excuses to satisfy even hie Bernard's The visit had been, indeed, one of great enjoy invitation of his host to prolong it, could he have conjured up any reason for doing so Lightly would he have esteemed and cheerfully welco, could the pleasure have been thus purchased
The truth is that within a few days he had been conscious of a feeling of which he had never before suspected hi that made him so reluctant to depart And yet, when, in the silence of his chamber, and away from the blue eyes of Anne Bernard, he reflected upon his position, he was obliged to confess, with a sigh, that prudence required he should leave a society as dangerous as it eet To be in the same house with her, to breathe the same air, to read the sao, but in proportion to the difficulty was the necessity
Besides he could not avoid fancying that young Bernard, though not cold, was hardly as cordial as forard with satisfaction a separation from his sister Nor had he reason to suppose that she looked upon his other than those which she entertained for any other acquaintance standing to her in the same relation as himself Beyond the ordinary compliments and little attentions which thehad passed between theh satisfied he was not an object of aversion, he kneell that she had never betrayed any partiality for hi interested, beyond, perhaps, the power of control, the sooner, therefore, he weaned hihtful fascination, the better for his peace of er in the neighborhood, only two or threeelapsed since he had been sent by the ood, Pownal, & Co, of New York, to take charge of a branch of their business at Hillsdale Even in that short space of time, by his affable manners and attention to business he had won his way to the respect and esteeood people of the town, and was looked upon as one likely to succeed in the lottery of life