icipations of happiness and success,--all
his present little projects for progress and self-improvement,--and
these matters, trivial though they may have been, gradually drew his
thoughts from himself and his sorrow, put them farther and farther
away into the dimness and silence of the past, and made the present a
more vivid and earnest reality. Was it any wonder that, seeing he
could not maintain his gloom and grimness in Noll's sunshine, and
finding it slipping away from him in spite of his endeavors to retain
it, he should astonish his nephew by strange fits of moroseness,
alternating with the utmost kindness and indulgence?

The boy sometimes fancied that his uncle had grown to utterly dislike
him,--being so irritable and unjust at times; then again his heart was
light with joy and hope, for he fancied that the grim man was just on
the point of losing his great burden of gloom, and becoming hopeful
and unoppressed. But how could he be hopeful for whom there was no
hope?--who refused to trust in God's promises?--for whom the shadow of
the grave was utter darkness and horror, wherein dear faces had
vanished--forever?

One day Noll had begged him to come out for a walk on the beach,
thinking he would lead his uncle on and on till they should come out
upon Culm village, and in this manner disclose what he had been doing
for the dwellings and their inmates.

Trafford at first appeared inclined to consent, and followed his
nephew out as far as the piazza steps, but here he stopped, and all
Noll's entreaties could not prevail upon him to go further. He sat
down, looking dispiritedly across the tranquil sea, all warm and fair
with changing lights, and down at his feet at the bit of verdure which
Noll had caused to flourish by dint of much seed-sowing and watering,
saying, "No, I've no part in it all. I'll go no further."

So Noll was obliged to set off for Culm alone, consoling himself with
the thought that next time, perhaps, he should be so successful as to
get Uncle Richard a little farther, and next time a little way farther
still, till, at last, they might walk together as uncle and nephew
should. Would that happy day ever come? he wondered.

At last, after many delays and hindrances, the plan of a school was
decided upon. Noll did not begin the undertaking with much confidence
of success, or with any great hope of making the Culm children very
bright or vigorous scholars; but it would be something towar