some noxious pit. Then I recollected my neglect in answering her last letter, the first instance of the kind. Why it was I could not tell, but as if a lightning flash had come from heaven to reveal me unto myself, I saw at once how the excitements of my new life were fast blunting the acute perceptions of my moral nature, and how rapidly, yet unconsciously, my conscience was becoming seared. The next morning as soon as I could obtain conveyance, I started for home, arriving at nightfall, but not until the vital spark had fled. All day I had been revolving the question in my mind how I should meet her with that sense of guilt on my soul; whether to confess it or spare her last hours the pain of that disclosure. Facing my sin alone in that chamber of death, what would I not have given for one short hour to pour into her ears the tale of my contrition, and hear from her lips the sweet words of forgiveness. No such comfort remained. No more loving words of hers would ever again bring sunlight to my soul, and henceforth, through the stormy waves that had come thus early to buffet me, no beacon smile of joy would lead me in triumph, nor tender admonition warn me of danger. I now thought I could not live. The loss of my mother alone seemed too hard to bear, and the addition of this terrible burden of remorse seemed hell itself.
For months I wandered in my restless agony without being able to fix my mind on any kind of business, or participate in any pleasure. Abandoning all thoughts of completing my collegiate course, I resolved to make a tour in the old world to visit its
