The smile of God himself that solitary ray appeared to the diseased
spirit of the youth, and he grew strong in an instant. Talk of the
lessons of the learned, and the reasonings of the sage!--a vagrant
breeze, a rippling water, a glance of the sweet sunlight, have more of
consolation in them for the sad heart than all the pleadings of
philosophy. They bring the missives of a higher teacher.
Bunce was an active coadjutor with the lawyer in this melancholy case.
He made all inquiries--he went everywhere. He searched in all places,
and spared no labor; but at length despaired. Nothing could be elicited
by his inquiries, and he ceased to hope himself, and ceased to persuade
Ralph into hope. The lawyer shook his head in reply to all questions,
and put on a look of mystery which is the safety-valve to all swollen
pretenders.
In this state of affairs, taking the horse of the youth, with a last
effort at discoveries, Bunce rode forth into the surrounding country. He
had heretofore taken all the common routes, to which, in his previous
intercourse with the people, he had been accustomed; he now determined
to strike into a path scarcely perceptible, and one which he never
remembered to have seen before.
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