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212 journey to Fame smooth and accessible for you. Never, too, while you aspire to honour, shall you steel your heart to tranquillity. For you, my child, shall be the joys of home and love, and a mind that does not sicken at the past, and strain, through mere fretfulness, towards a solitary and barren distinction for the future. Not only what your father gains, you shall enjoy, but what has cursed him, his vigilance shall lead you to shun!"

It was thus not only that his softer feelings, but all the better and nobler ones which, even in the worst and hardest bosom, find some root, turned themselves towards his child; and that the hollow and vicious man promised to become the affectionate and perhaps the wise parent.

One night, Brandon was returning home from a ministerial dinner. The night was frosty and clear, the hour was late, and his way lay through the longest and best lighted street of the metropolis. He was, as usual, buried in thought, when he was suddenly aroused from his reverie by a light touch laid on his arm. He turned, and saw one of the unhappy persons who haunt the