hich overwhelms the young heart with a very flood of wretchedness.
Besides, a stray word or two of kindness had now and then escaped my
father towards me, and I treasured these up as my richest possession.
I thought of them over and over. Many a lonely night, when my heart has
been low and sinkings I repeated them to myself, like talismans against
grief; and when I slept, my dreams would dwell on them and make my
waking happy.

As I issued from a dark copse of beech-trees, the indistinct outline of
the old house met my eye. I could trace the high-pitched roof, the
tall and pointed gables against the sky; and with a strange sense of
undefinable fear,' beheld a solitary light that twinkled from the window
of an upper room, where my father lay. The remainder of the building
was in deep shadow. I mounted the long flight of stone steps that led
to what once had been a terrace; but the balustrades were broken many a
year ago; and even the heavy granite stone had been smashed in several
places. The hall door lay wide open, and the hall itself had no other
light save such as the flickering of a wood fire afforded, as its
uncertain flashes fell upon the dark wainscot and the floor.

I had just recognized the grim, old-fashioned portraits that covered
the walls, when my eye was attracted by a figure near the fire. I
approached, and beheld an old man doubled with age. His bleared eyes
were bent upon the wood embers, which he was trying to rake together
with a stick; his clothes bespoke the most miserable poverty, and
afforded no protection against the cold and cutting blast. He was
croning some old song to himself as I drew near, and paid no attention
to me. I moved round so as to let the light fall on his face, and then
perceived it was old Lanty, as he was called. Poor fellow! Age and
neglect had changed him sadly since I had seen him last. He had been
the huntsman of the family for two generations; but having somehow
displeased my father one day at the cover, he rode at him and struck him
on the head with his loaded whip. The man fell senseless from his horse,
and was carried home. A few days, however, enabled him to rally and be
about again; but his senses had left him forever. All recollection
of the unlucky circumstance had faded from his mind, and his rambling
thoughts dwelt on his old pursuits; so that he passed his days about
the stables, looking after the horses and giving directions about them.
Latterly he had become t