nervous disposition, he
would have been completely crushed under the burden of heartless
neglect, and his heart frozen up by the withholding of a father's and
mother's love, had it not been for the gentle and deep affection of his
aunt, Miss Huntingdon, who was privileged to lead that poor, desolate,
craving heart to Him whose special office it is to pour a heavenly balm
into the wounded spirit. In herself, too, he found a source of comfort
from her pitying love, which in a measure took the place of that which
his nearest ought to have given him, but did not. And so, as boy and
young man, Amos Huntingdon learned, under the severe discipline of his
earthly home, lessons which were moulding his character to a nobility
which few suspected, who, gazing on that timid, shrinking youth, went on
their way with a glance or shrug of pity. But so it was.

Amos had formed a mighty purpose; it was to be the one object of his
earthly life, to which everything was to bend till he had accomplished
it. But who would have thought of such an iron resolution of will in a
breast like that poor boy's? For to him an ordinary conversation was a
trial, and to speak in company an effort, though it was but to answer a
simple question. If a stranger asked his opinion, a nervous blush
covered his face as he forced out a reply. The solitude which others
found irksome had special charms for him. With one person only in his
own home did he feel really at ease,--that person was his aunt, for he
believed that she in a measure really understood and sympathised with
him. And yet that shy, nervous, retiring young man, down-trodden and
repulsed as he was, was possessed by one grand and all-absorbing
purpose: it was this, to bring back his sister to her father's home
forgiven, and his mother to that same home with the cloud removed from
her mind and spirit.

That both these objects _might_ be accomplished he was firmly persuaded.
At the same time, he was fully aware that to every one else who knew
his father and the circumstances which had led to the sad estrangement
of the daughter and removal of the mother, such a restoration as he
contemplated bringing about would appear absolutely hopeless. Yet he
himself had no doubts on the subject. The conviction that his purpose
might and would be accomplished was stamped into his soul as by an
indelible brand. He was perfectly sure that every hindrance could be
removed, though _how_ he could not tell.