say?" added the Page, in a voice considerably depressed. "Trust nothing to appearances. A mystery? Aye, I am a mystery! And thou too art all mysterious! And is he, Valerius, the Confessor, more ingenuous, better understood? Are we not-are we not-all his machines, whom he moves at pleasure, now here, now there, now pushing us forward in godliness, now drawing us back to plunge us into the midst of the snares and temptations of the world? Oh, there is no truth in the seeming of any of us! We are altogether lies and deceptions, stalking abroad amongst men in impenetrable disguises, beneath which lurks the dagger, perchance, which is to pierce the bosom that trusted us. We are, indeed, creatures

fit for Heaven!"

The Page sighed heavily, and he smote his breast in bitterness. His

countenance was very melancholy, and his complexion pale. Lewen gazed on him with interest and compassion.

"Thou art yet young to be versed in such scenes as those thou describest," said he. "It seems to me, that thy imagination will be fatal to thee. It plunges thee into the midst of thick clouds and gloom, or into regions all glowing with exquisite light and splendor. Ever viewing passing events through such a medium, they appear to thee distorted and monstrous. Use thy judgment soberly, and regard not the vain delusions of fancy."

"Are they vain delusions, and is it thou who wouldst persuade me they are so?" replied the Page scornfully. "Young though I be, trust me, I have not been fooled by the fallacious covering my guides and companions have thrown over their actions. My hopes have never misled me; I had no hopes!

My fears never subdued me! I had no fears! Alone, desolate, fatherless, friendless, helpless, without a name, without a tie of kindred, a solitary link in the vast chain of human existence, bound to it by one only bond, and that of terror, what had I to fear, for what had I to lose? What had I to hope for, from what seed could a flower of promise and of brightness spring up for me? I am altogether wretched and outcast; one only verdant spot enriches the desert of my pilgrimage; sently that will be scorched and pass away, or bloom in luxuriance and beauty for ever!"

and pre

He paused, and the energy of his manner had restored to him all his brilliancy of complexion. Lewen looked on him with an eye of pity and of admiration.

"I cannot speak to thee of thyself, for in sooth thou art altogether beyond

"Trust

my comprehension," said he. me, if compassion for thy sorrows hath the power to alleviate them, my soul at this moment is engrossed by such a feeling."

The Page looked up into the eyes of Lewen, and a sunny smile irradiated his glowing face. "And it is a boon," said he," that I would exchange for nothing beneath Heaven! Beneath Heaven? What would Heaven itself delight, thou absent?"

"Poor youth, in whom even impiety seems pardonable as the aberration of disordered intellect, rather than blamable as proceeding from the corruption of the heart, what powers of mind are lost in this morbid exuberance of imagination and sensibility!" said he. “For thy soul's sake, throw off from thee the wretched infatuation which menaces so fearfully thy eternal felicity! Dost thou put the friendships of this world,

encumbered with all their dross and their earthliness, in competition with the abundant glory, revealed to the saints hereafter ?"

"And shall I not-shall I not rather pluck the delicious fruit within my reach, and value it, and feed on it, than place my view on things beyond all mortal ken, which may perchance never be mine?" demanded the Page with enthusiasm. "Is not this the manner of the wise of the earth? Have I not examples amongst the sages and the lights of men ?"

"Follow not after the wisdom of the children of this generation, lest it should prove a snare and a stumbling-block to thee!" said Lewen. 66 Thy passions are fearful in their strength, and thou resignest thyself to their control without resistance-even with exultation !"

"And what shall resistance avail in such a conflict?" demanded the Page.