find him
changed; and changed he was, less perhaps in appearance than in the
perceptible withdrawal of his mind from all earthly concerns.
He seldom spoke, but sat all day immobile, with the lids of his blind
eyes half lowered, so that it was hard to tell whether he brooded or
merely dozed. On Christmas Day he excused himself from walking to
church with us, and upon top of his excuse looked up with a sudden
happy smile--as though his eyes really saw us--and quoted Waller's
famous lines:

"The soul's dark cottage, battered and decay'd,
Lets in new light through chinks that time hath made. . . ."

To me it seemed rather that, as its home broke up, the soul withdrew
little by little, and contracted itself like the pupil of an eye, to
shrink to a pinpoint and vanish in the full admitted ray.

This our last Christmas at Minden Cottage was a quiet yet a
singularly happy one. It was good to be at home, yet the end of the
holidays and the return to Stimcoe's cast no anticipatory gloom on my
spirits. To tell the truth, I had a sneaking affection for
Stimcoe's; and to Miss Plinlimmon's cross-examination upon its
internal economies I opposed a careless manly assurance as hardly
fraudulent as Mr. Stimcoe's brazen doorplate or his lady's
front-window curtains. The careful mending of my linen, too--for
Mrs. Stimcoe with all her faults was a needlewoman--helped to disarm
suspicion. When we talked of my studies I sang the praises of
Captain Branscome, and told of his past heroism and his sword of
honour.

"Branscome? Branscome, of the _Londonderry?_" said my father.
"Ay, to be sure, I remember Branscome--a Godfearing fellow and a good
seaman. You may take him back my compliments, Harry--my compliments
and remembrances--and say that if Heaven permitted us to meet again
in this world, nothing would give me greater pleasure than to crack a
bottle with him."

I duly reported this to Captain Branscome, and was taken aback by his
reception of it. He began in a sudden flurry to ask a dozen
questions concerning my father.

"He keeps good health, I trust? It would be an honour to call and
chat with the Major. At what hour would he be most accessible to
visitors?"

I stared, for in truth he seemed ready to take me at my word and
start off at once, and at my patent surprise he grew yet more nervous
and confused.

"I have kept a regard for your father, Brooks--a veneration, I might
almost call it. Sailors and sol