on the matter which occupied it,--to arrange
his ideas, and bring himself into a state in which he could make a
resolution. For hours he had sat,--not thinking upon this subject,
for thought is an exertion which requires a combination of ideas and
results in the deducing of conclusions from premises; and no such
effort as that had he hitherto made,--but endeavouring to think while
he allowed the matter of his grief to lie ever before his mind's eye.

He had said to himself over and over again, that it behoved him to
make some great effort to shake off this incubus that depressed him;
but yet no such effort had hitherto been even attempted. Now at last
he arose and shook himself, and promised to himself that he would be
a man. It might be that the misfortune under which he groaned was
heavy, but let one's sorrow be what it may, there is always a better
and a worse way of meeting it. Let what trouble may fall on a man's
shoulders, a man may always bear it manfully. And are not troubles
when so borne half cured? It is the flinching from pain which makes
pain so painful.

This truth came home to him as he sat there that day, thinking what
he should do, endeavouring to think in what way he might best turn
himself. But there was this that was especially grievous to him,
that he had no friend whom he might consult in this matter. It was
a sorrow, the cause of which he could not explain to his own family,
and in all other troubles he had sought assistance and looked
for counsel there and there only. He had had one best, steadiest,
dearest, truest counsellor, and now it had come to pass that things
were so placed that in this great trouble he could not go to her.

And now a friend was so necessary to him! He felt that he was not fit
to judge how he himself should act in this terrible emergency; that
it was absolutely necessary for him that he should allow himself to
be guided by some one else. But to whom should he appeal?

"He is a cold man," said he to himself, as one name did occur to him,
"very cold, almost unfeeling; but he is honest and just." And then
again he sat and thought. "Yes, he is honest and just; and what
should I want better than honesty and justice?" And then, shuddering
as he resolved, he did resolve that he would send for this honest and
just man. He would send for him; or, perhaps better still, go to him.
At any rate, he would tell him the whole truth of his grief, and then
act as the cold, just man shou