Yet the minister's son had no love for gross vices; there were human instincts in him (if it maybe said) that rebelled against his more deliberate sinnings. Nay, he affected with his boon companions an enjoyment of wanton excesses that he only half felt. A certain adventurous, dare-devil reach in him craved exercise. The character of Reuben at this stage would surely have offered a good subject for the study and the handling of Dr. Mowry, if that worthy gentleman could have won his way to the lad's confidence; but the ponderous methods of the city parson showed no fineness of touch. Even the father, as we have seen, could not reach down to any religious convictions of the son; and Reuben keeps him at bay with a banter, and an exaggerated attention to the personal comforts of the old gentleman, that utterly baffle him. Reuben holds too much in dread the old catechismal dogmas and the ultimate "anathema maran-atha." So it was with a profound sigh that the father bade his son adieu after this city visit. "Good bye, father! Love to them all in Ashfield." So like Rachel's voice! So like Rachel's! And the heart of the old man yearned toward him and ached bitterly for him. _"O my son Absalom! my son! my son Absalom!"_ XXXV. Maverick hurried his departure from the city; and Adele, writing to Rose to announce the programme of her journey, says only this much of Reuben:--"We have of course seen R----, who was very attentive and kind. He has grown tall,--taller, I should think, than Phil; and he is quite well-looking and gentlemanly. I think he has a very good opinion of himself." The summer's travel offered a season of rare enjoyment to Adele. The lively sentiment of girlhood was not yet wholly gone, and the thoughtfulness of womanhood was just beginning to tone, without controlling, her sensibilities. The delicate attentions of Maverick were more like those of a lover than of a father. Through his ever watchful eyes, Adele looked upon the beauties of Nature with a new halo on them. How the water sparkled to her vision! How the days came and went like golden dreams!