stlessly, and uttered a plaintive moan. It was not
a moan of pain, but one of sympathy; as if the grief in the heart beside
him had crept into his own. He lifted one arm wearily, and it fell back
upon the pillow, and the unconscious fingers lifted the rings of jetty
hair from the fevered brow.

That bright brow! that pale, proud brow! how it gleamed out in contrast
with those glossy curls. Guly gazed upon it, then lifted his head and
kissed it; and the tears, still quivering on his lashes, fell upon
it--that brother's brow!

Arthur opened his eyes, and gazed up steadily at the face bent over him.
There was something in the expression of that face which went over his
heart like a strain of touching music. He could not bear that it should
be turned away from him, or that he should lose it, and he raised both
hands, and, laying them among the silken curls, held it there.

"Oh, Guly! Guly! do you know all?"

"Dear Arthur! don't speak of this."

"Yet you have sorrowed for me; you have grieved, and been silent, and
unreproachful. Oh, Guly! what a wretch I am!"

"Hush, Arthur! oh, don't, don't!"

The tears fell down again, unrestrainedly, upon that pale brow, gleaming
up from the jetty locks, and for a moment neither spoke.

"I feel, Guly, as though I had taken a long leap into sin--such a long
one, that I shall never get back; and everything seems at work to keep
me in it. What shall I ever, ever do--I am so weak--so--so--"

"Oh, Arthur, look up--look ever up. God's finger points out the way to
you from the sky; trust yourself to its holy guidance, and be strong."

"Guly, I can't. It seems a long while since I prayed at all--since
yesterday I seem to have lived an age, and it is black, all black!"

"Nay, Arthur, you have wandered a few hours from the fold, and your
sight is darkened; but the Great Shepherd calls to you with His gentle
voice to return. Listen, and obey."

"I should only fall again."

"Trust, and you shall be strengthened."

"Oh, Guly, I have not your mind nor heart. I cannot be patient, and
meek, and charitable, through all things, as you can; I have so much
pride that I _cannot_ calmly bear reproof, and here I am fretted, and
crushed, and ridiculed into sin all the time, and am too weak to make
resistance."

"Try, and remember in your heart _how_ we are here. Bear in your mind
that we no longer have the wealth or influence that we once had; and
that if we ever are to have them again, depends