118 AN HONEST MAN 



at the time, or to give an adequate idea of the thoughts 

 that rushed through my brain on the receipt of this 

 melancholy catastrophe. The being whom it had pleased 

 the Almighty thus suddenly to call from life was most 

 deservedly endeared to a large family by every quality 

 that adorns the husband and the father. His integrity 

 and punctuality in all matters of business, and a proper 

 discharge of all his relative duties to society, had gained 

 him the goodwill of his neighbours ; while the goodness 

 of his heart and the soundness of his understanding, 

 stored as his mind Avas with useful knoAvledfje, had 

 insured him the love and esteem of a laro-e circle of 

 relatives and friends. I admired and revered the man, 

 and whenever I recall that line from Pojdc — 



" An honest man's the noblest work of God," 



I am convinced it would apply to him. In an unhappy 

 moment I had made that man an obstacle to my happi- 

 ness, and now, by an act of Providence, that obstacle Avas 

 removed. 



If a writer of romance were to rack his brain, he could 

 hardly discover a more difficult or delicate position for 

 his hero than that in which I was placed by this sudden 

 and unlooked-for event. If I went down to offer my 

 condolence to the mother, and mix my tears with the 

 dauo;hter's, I was takin<x advantao;e of a dreadful 



~ / C CD 



bereavement to renew my visits and j)rosecute my suit 

 — a natural inference, against the very suspicion of 

 which my spirit revolted. If T stayed away, Avhere was 

 my regard, where my sympathy, for the family in their 

 distress ? 



