"We know that they exist. You know that they exist. History,
observation, experience, reason, all come to the proof. We doubt but
in the face of conviction. Are these not higher and nobler things
than wealth, or worldly honors; than place or power? And is he not
serenest and happiest whose life rests on these as a house upon its
foundations? You cannot shake such a man. You cannot throw him down.
Wealth may go, and friends drop away like withering autumn leaves,
but he stands fast, with the light of heaven upon his brow. He has
faith in virtue--he has trust in God--he knows that all will come
out right in the end, and that he will be a wiser and better man for
the trial that tested his principles--for the storms that toughened,
but did not break the fibres of his soul."
"You lift me into a new region of thought," said Mr. Fanshaw, "A dim
light is breaking into my mind. I see things in a relation not
perceived before."
"Will you call with me on an old friend?" asked Mr. Wilkins.
"Who?"
"A poor man. Once rich."
"He might feel my visit as an intrusion."
"No."
"What reduced him to poverty?"
"A friend, in whom he put unlimited faith, deceived and ruined him."
"Ah!"
"And he has never been able to recover himself."
"What is his state of mind?"
"You shall judge for yourself."
In poor lodgings they found a man far past the prime of life.
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