THE MONK 



marks of blood appeared on various parts of his clothes. His accuser 

 called loudly for justice to be done to the slayer of his brother, and 

 every one was ready to condemn. 



*' The meeting of a parent and child under such painful circum- 

 stances, may be better imagined than described. M. de Rosenberg 

 clasped Arthur in one long, fond embrace. He knew — he felt that 

 his son could not be guilty ; but how was his innocence to be 

 proved ? In vain did the agonized parent try to suggest various 

 ways of repelling the accusation. All his plans were abandoned as 

 soon as they were formed ; each one was found delusive and im- 

 practicable. They were like the bubbles of hope rising through 

 the troubled waters of affliction, and instantly broken as they be- 

 came exposed to the atmosphere of truth. The simple facts of the 

 case, as they have been related, he saw must condemn him; He 

 beheld the prop of his declining years, the child to whom his heart 

 yearned with the fondest affection, the being who was united to 

 him in body and soul by the mystic tie of consanguinity — he saw 

 this beloved one doomed to death and ignominy. He felt that his 

 own name would be blasted, his reputation stigmatized, his house 

 dishonoured, his happiness for ever gone. He was regardless of the 

 soothing consolations that sympathy and friendship can give ; and 

 even, for a time, religion was incapable of imparting comfort to him. 

 He would gaze upon the unfortunate Arthur till the big tears rolled 

 in rapid succession down his furrowed cheeks, and with one convul- 

 sive sob he would cast himself on his son's neck, and call passionately 

 upon Heaven to witness for his purity. 



" It is not in human nature at once to confess that whatever is, is 

 right. When sorrow and misfortune lower, the mind will at first 

 rebel. The wise sage and the enlightened philosopher, the pure 

 moralist and the genuine enthusiastic believer in divine interposi- 

 tion, have all occasionally repined, and questioned the justice of the 

 decree that fated them to pain and misery. And so it must ever be 

 with the finite intellect of man. The effects produced by the 

 mighty power that orders and directs the universe may be seen ; but 

 the first causes which created those effects/ and the ultimate ends to 

 be attained by them, are beyond the comprehension of mortality. 

 We find a small seed placed in the earth puts forth a young shoot, 

 which quickly matures into a magnificent tree ; but we know not 

 how the vital principle is contained in the seed, or by what power 

 the tree is enabled to perfect its renewing fruits. But to return to 

 my story. During the few days that elapsed previously to the 



VOL. X., NO. XXVIII. 12 



