AND THE MAN. 185

 

“What for all this? Am I braver or better
for such bloody work ?”

Through the long night he paced the
hall: of his castle; but with daydawn he
rode forth alone. The sun arose and set;
the seasons came and went; years passed ;
but the knight returned not.

 

THE HERMIT.

Far from the busy scenes of life dwelt
pious recluse, who, in prayer, fasting, and
various forms of penance, sought to find
repose for his troubled conscience. His
food was pulse, and his drink the pure
water that went sparkling in the sunlight
past his hermit-cell in the wilderness.
Now and then a traveller who had lost his
way, or an eager hunter in pursuit of game,
met this lonely man in his deep seclusion.
To such he spoke-eloquently of the vani-
ties of life and of the wisdom of those who,
renouncing these vanities, devote them-

L2