nocence the license which
acceptance of this strange scheme would surely give? Dim-sighted as I
was, it was necessary to rise and dispel this splendid phantasm. I
shuddered in sudden alarm at the danger which threatened me. By a
spasmodic movement, in which I failed to recognize any presence of my
will, the manuscript was closed and handed to Clifton. Welcome existence
under coarsest and harshest terms, rather than tamper with such fearful
possibilities!

For hours the minister had gazed into my face, partaking the excitement
to which he had subjected me. He had lighted and trimmed the candles, as
was necessary, but had never broken silence. And now there came from him
the deep sigh of relief from an absorbing interest; he sighed as a
little child when the fairytale is ended and the tense strain of
attention may be relaxed.

"What was this man?" I demanded, hurriedly.

"What he was is to be discovered through these writings, if it may be
found out at all. What he was is not for me nor for you to know. It is
possible that he may meet with competent judges hereafter, even among
men. Look at this address."

Clifton handed me a little memorandum relating to the ultimate
disposition of the manuscript. It was to remain for eighty years in the
Mather Safe, and was then to be consigned to the occupant of the Chair
of Moral Philosophy in the College.

"Say rather to the last minority-candidate for the professorship!" I
exclaimed. "I doubt if the actual winner of that comfortable possession
will feel disposed to abandon the market-worth of conventional
acquirements, and set forth as a humble student of unpopular truth."

The minister seemed struck with the suggestion, and made the alteration
I had indicated.

The darkest hour of the night had come. Every sound of human activity
had long ago ceased. It was the quiet time when one may most easily
probe an intense experience. I felt that more was to be
known,--something which the minister longed to tell,--something to which
what he had caused me to read was to serve as a prelude. I suspected how
powerless must have been this sensitive man in the presence of the Idea
which he had carried. Doubtless, in one of his peculiar tendencies, it
might prevent all harmonious action,--it might ever goad the intellect,
and crush the heart. As the confession trembled upon the lips of
Clifton, I signified my profound sympathy. It is an awful moment, when a
mature man tries to put off the