He started, for she had fair hair and a fresh face whose features bore some resemblance to those of Nelly Polwhele--he started, for there came upon him, with the force of a revelation, the knowledge that this was the companionship for which he was longing--that unconsciously, she had been in his thoughts--some way at the back of his thoughts, to be sure, but still there--that, only since he had been her companion had his need for some sweet and helpful companionship become impressed upon him.. He rode on to his destination overwhelmed by the surprise at the result of this glimpse which had been given to him into the depths of his own heart. The effect seemed to him as if with the sight of that stranger--that young woman on the roadside--a flash of lightning had come, showing him in an instant what was in the depths of his heart. He tried to bring himself to believe that he was mistaken. “Impossible--impossible!” he cried. “It is impossible that I should be so affected--a village girl!... And I did not talk with her half a dozen times in all!... Kind, thoughtful, with tact--a gracious presence, a receptive mind.... Ah, it was she undoubtedly who set me thinking--who made me feel dissatisfied with my isolation, but still.. . oh, impossible--impossible!” And, although a just man, the thoughts that he now believed himself to have in regard to Nelly Polwhele were bitter rather than sweet. He began to think that it was too bold of her--almost immodest--to make the attempt to change the whole course of the life of such a man as he was. He had once courted the lonely life, believing it to be the only life for such as he--the only life that enabled him to give all his thoughts--all his strength--oh, all his life--all his life--to the work which had been appointed for him to do in the world of sinners; but lo! that child had come to him, and had made him feel that he was not so different from other men. Under the influence of his bitterness, he resented her intrusion, as it were. Pshaw! the girl wras nothing. It was only companionship as a sentiment that he had been longing for; he had a clear idea of the companionship that he needed; but he had never thought of the companion. It was a mere trick of the fancy to suggest that, because the young woman had sent his thoughts into a certain groove, they must of necessity be turned in the direction of the young woman herself. He soon found, however, that it is one thing for a man to prove to the satisfaction of his own intelligence that it would be impossible that he should set his heart on a particular young woman, but quite another to shut her out from his heart. He had his heart to reckon with, though he did not know it. Before the day had passed he had shut the doors of his heart, and he believed that he had done right. He did not know that he had shut those doors, not against her, but upon her.