and the
enfranchised spirit went trembling up to God, tears fell like jewels
on the pallid face of the dying, and thoughts, of which the good might
have been proud, flashed through his mind. Who, at such moments, would
recognize David White, the bold, dark, dangerous man? But thus it is;
mirthful feelings will sometimes obtrude when the heavy clod is
falling upon the coffin of a friend, and the grave closing over him
forever; thoughts of the last agony, the bourne of death, and the
curtained futurity, will sometimes come like a pall over our minds,
when the dance is at its flush, and pleasure in its spring-time; and
moments will sometimes roll round when a softness breathes upon the
hearts of hardened men.

David White was again amongst the scenes of his boyhood; but he looked
upon them merely as the passing traveler--with an idle curiosity.
Change had been more busy than he expected, yet nothing around him
served to awaken emotion. Not even when he stood upon the little
eminence, and on almost the very spot where he had stood ten years
agone, to bid a final adieu to home, and then to pass on to ruin, did
he seem to remember, save by a faint and sickly smile, half-sneering
in its expression. Yet, had he seen it when environed by other
circumstances, perhaps his heart might have been touched--but now it
was feelingless.

Arrived at the old homestead, he knocked loudly at the door--but no
one answering the call, he lifted the latch and entered the apartment.
A large hickory fire was blazing on the hearth, casting a ruddy glare
upon the floor, and radiating a pleasant heat throughout the room.
Upon a worsted hearth-rug reclined a large gray cat, which he thought
the very same he had kicked across the room on the evening of his
departure, and which started up at his approach, and took refuge
beneath the bed. Finding that no one was conscious of his presence, he
flung off his dark overcoat, and laying it on a little pine table by
the window, drew a large rocking-chair from its nook in the corner,
and seating himself by the hearth, began very complacently to
contemplate the ornaments upon the mantle-piece. But soon growing
tired of this employment, he left his seat and crossed over to some
pictures that hung against the opposite wall. At this moment a door
opened to his left, and turning, he beheld Mary entering the
apartment, her cheeks rosier than ever with recent exercise.

"Good evening to you, my pretty lass," he obs