parish church, with all its defects, is most like of all things in this world to heaven. If one is in sorrow, surely it is the best place to pour our griefs to a loving Father; if in joy, it is the best place to think of heaven.'
"I was much struck by this remark. 'Can any one, I thought, who expresses such sentiments be really wicked? He is evidently no hypocrite. He enjoys the service greatly, and is of a devout mind. His secret, whatever it is, cannot be a very harmful one.'
"And still it was manifest, with all his child-like love of childhood, with all his unobtrusive piety, that he had some wonderful secret which he sought to conceal from every one. His manners and habits were strange. He loved to walk alone on the moors; he shrank from every question about his antecedents, save and except about his recent voyages, on which he was particularly communicative; he expressed himself strangely at times, and certainly had odd ideas.
"No letter came for him while he was staying with me, but a large box arrived by the parcels delivery. After it arrived he grew more reserved, and went out on the moors by night a good deal. I ventured once or twice to enter his room. His box was
