and sisters, which is sharpened by the know- 

 ledge of his vulnerable points and tempered by 

 the will to use that knowledge. There is the 

 love of children, which passes with time into 

 respect or acquiescence, and there is the love 

 of his friends, which does not exempt him 

 from their improving criticism. But if, as is 

 possible,he desires a love that never falters and 

 never questions, that misuse cannot change 

 and even cruelty cannot affect ; if he is 

 attracted by a loyalty which rises into wor- 

 ship and flatters poor human nature by in- 

 vesting it with godlike attributes ; if his 

 complex and doubting mind cares to refresh 

 itself with the contemplation of perfect sim- 

 plicity and directness ; if he sighs for a com- 

 panionship which will assume the burden of 

 his faults and almost turn them into virtues, 

 which contents itself with a kind look or a 

 cheering word and does not even press for these 

 if these be his wishes, he can secure them, 

 almost without an effort on his own part, from 

 the proffered love of the four-footed beasts 



