"Life is a mockery, a cheating dream!" said Mr. Markland, bitterly. "Not so, my friend," was the calmly spoken answer. "Not so. Our life here is the beginning of an immortal life. But, to be a happy life, it must be a true one. All its activities must have an orderly pulsation." Mr. Markland slowly raised a hand, and, pressing it strongly against his forehead, stood motionless for some moments, his mind deeply abstracted. "My thoughts flow back, Mr. Allison," he said, at length, speaking in a subdued tone, "to a period many months gone by, and revives a conversation held with you, almost in this very place. What you then said made a strong impression on my mind. I saw, in clear light, how vain were all efforts to secure happiness in this world, if made selfishly, and thus in a direction contrary to true order. The great social man I recognised as no mere idealism, but as a verity. I saw myself a member of this body, and felt deeply the truth then uttered by you, that just in proportion as each member thinks of and works for himself alone will that individual be working in selfish disorder, and, like the member of the human body that takes more than its share of blood, must certainly suffer the pain of inflammation. The truth then presented to my mind was like a flood of light; but I did not love the truth, and shut my eyes to the light that revealed more than I wished to know. Ah, sir! if I could have accepted all you then advanced--if I could have overcome the false principle of self-seeking then so clearly shown to be the curse of life--I would not have involved myself in business that must now separate me for months from my home and family." "And should you achieve all that was anticipated in the beginning," said Mr. Allison, "I doubt if you will find pleasure enough in the realization to compensate for this hour of pain, to say nothing of what you are destined to suffer during the months of separation that are before you." "Your doubts are my own," replied Markland, musingly. "But,"--and he spoke in a quicker and lighter tone,--"this is all folly! I must go forward, now, to the end. Why, then, yield to unmanly weakness?" "True, sir," returned the old man. "No matter how difficult the way in which our feet must walk, the path must be trodden bravely." "I shall learn some lessons of wisdom by this experience," said Mr. Markland, "that will go with me through life. But, I fear, they will be all too dearly purchased." "Wisdom," was the answer, "is a thing of priceless value." "It is sometimes too dearly bought, for all that."