"He is of the age for doubting himself. It is at twenty that we are infallible. To be sure, some happy men are so all their lives. Shaler, I dare say, wouldn't have a doubt of his own wisdom, if the whole hundred and seventy-three were starved or hanged. If there are marks of care on Harvey's face, reasons might be found for it without inventing for him an uneasy conscience." "I think he envies Shaler, and would follow his example, if he had the resolution. It is strange to see a brave man under such a thraldom." "If Frank Harvey wants courage, it is something new." "There are men who have courage to face a foe, but not to stand up against a friend." "Certainly, in such a project, he would have his wife's family to count with, to say nothing of his own children. I fancy he would hardly find a co-adjutor in Fred. You know Fred Harvey, Harry; he was at school with you in Paris. What sort of a fellow was he then?" "I liked him." "I was not ill-pleased with him, when I saw him in Paris four years ago. A fine-looking fellow; formed manners; modest enough, too. I thought he would fill his place in the world creditably. Did you see much of him, Harry, after you left school?" "For a year I saw him constantly. We went to the same lectures at the Jardin des Plantes." While this conversation was going on, a reminiscence had been waking in my mind. "Did you ever take a journey with Frederic Harvey?" I asked Harry. "Yes, into Brittany." "Were you at a Trappist monastery with him?" "At La Meilleraie. We passed a night there." It was clear. I had been present once at a conversation between Frederic and his sister, in which he spoke of his companion on this journey into Brittany more warmly than I had ever heard him speak of any other man, and yet with a discrimination that individualized the praise, and made it seem not only sincere, but accurate. This conversation interested me very much at the time; but, as I had no expectation of seeing the person who was the subject of it, his name passed from me. I was glad to hear Harry say he liked Frederic Harvey. It would have been hard, if he had not. And yet I am not sure that I like him very much myself. I am grateful for the preference he shows for my society; but I cannot meet as I would his evident desire for intimacy. How true is what South says:--"That heart shall surrender itself and its friendship to one man, at first view, which another has long been laying siege to in vain"! MONDAY, April 8, 1844.