know Mr. Armstrong is at home?" said Felix, to himself.
"But I'm a free man, and it is very onpolite to talk about my master."

"The Lord hath raised up a mighty salvation for us," was the address
of Holden, as Mr. Armstrong entered the room. "I come to bid thee
farewell for a time."

"Farewell!" repeated Mr. Armstrong, without comprehending the meaning
of the other.

"Sit thee down, dear friend, and listen to what will give thee joy for
my sake now, and thine own hereafter. My son, who was dead, is alive
again.".

Armstrong was at a loss to divine the meaning of his visitor. He took
it for some figurative form of expression, and, without making any
reply, passed his hand over his forehead, as if trying to recall some
idea.

Holden read his thoughts. "Thou dost not understand," he said. "Know
then that the child perished not with the mother."

"My friend," said Armstrong, who had now complete command of himself,
"you do not reflect that I cannot understand your allusions. Explain
to me, that I may participate in your joy."

"The child of my youth, he whom I lost, whom I mourned for so many
years as dead, is alive," exclaimed Holden, in tones of irrepressible
emotion.

"I give you joy," said Armstrong, grasping his hand. "But you never
mentioned you had a son. How have you lost, and how found him?"

"It is the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes," said
Holden. "Not long since thou didst tell of an unhappy man, round whom
afflictions had gathered. Now will I tell thee of another not less
wretched, the clouds of whose sorrow the setting sun is gilding. Be it
unto thee for a lesson of hope, for I tell thee, James, that assuredly
thou shalt be comforted."

We will endeavor to compress into a few words the more diffuse
narrative of the Recluse, confining ourselves to the substance.

It will be recollected that before Holden's constrained retirement
among the Indians, he had attached to him the squaw, Esther, by the
ties of both gratitude and respect. But it was only at a distance she
looked up to him whom she regarded as a sort of superior being. She
would not have ventured to speak to him of herself, for how could he
take an interest in so insignificant a creature? The nearer relations,
however, into which they were thrown, while he was an inmate of
her cabin, without diminishing her affection, abated her awe. The
teachings of Holden, and the strong interest he manifested for herself
and tribe so af