this was the more likely
because the man's voice was not of the loudest, nor was it positive in
the energy of its appeal.

Indeed, there was a certain feebleness or timidity in the stranger's
hail, as if he was mistrustful that any good fortune could respond to
him, and, hence, deprecated the necessity of the resort. But hear him we
did at last, and he was greeted with a chorus of voices to "Come in!
Come in! You're welcome!" And partly because we had finished our repast,
and partly from courtesy and the natural promptings of gentlefolk to
give a visitor courteous greeting, we all arose and received him
standing. And, certainly, had the kindly act been unusual with us, not
one of our group would have regretted the extra condescension bestowed
upon him at his coming, after he had entered the circle of our
firelight, and we saw the expression of his features.

What a mirror the human face is! Looking into it, how we behold the
soul, the accidents that have befallen it and the disappointments it has
borne! Are not the faces of men as carved tablets on which we read the
records of their lives? The face of childhood is smoothly beautiful,
like a white page on which neither with ink of red or black has any pen
drawn character. But, as the years go on, the pen begins to move and the
fatal tracery to grow,--that tracery which means and tells so much. And
the face of this man,--this waif, so to speak,--this waif that had come
to us from the stretch of the prairie, whose southern line is the
southern gulf; this stranger, who had come so suddenly to the circle of
our light, and so plaintively sought admission to its comfort and its
cheer, was a face which one might read at a glance. Not one in our
circle that did not instantly feel that he embodied some overwhelming
calamity. A look of sadness, of a mild, continuous sorrow, overspread
his face. There was a pitiful expression about the mouth, as if brave
determination had withdrawn its lines from it forever. From his eyes a
certain mistrustfulness looked forth,--not mistrustfulness of others,
but of himself,--as if confidence in his own powers had received an
overwhelming shock. The man's appearance made an instant and
unmistakable impression upon the entire company. The ladies--God bless
their sweet and sympathetic natures!--were profoundly moved at the
pitiful aspect of our guest. Their bosoms thrilled with sympathy for one
upon whose devoted head evil fortune had so evidently e