“If Mark had been the younger brother, it would have been far better; he would have been more than contented, and I—”
CHARLES’S STRUGGLE.
“Let us never, Charles,” said Mr. Ewart, laying his hand upon his shoulder, “say that anything which man had no power to alter could be better than as the Almighty ordained it. Could we see all that He sees, past and future together; could we know all that He knows, both our powers and our interests, we should not even wish such things other than as they are; we should feel that whatever is, is right.”
But pride, arrogance, and love of worldly glory were speaking too loudly in the heart of Charles to suffer him yet to listen quietly to the voice of truth. “I little thought when I found Mark what I was bringing upon myself,” said he; “and you, sir,” he added, bitterly, “you have thought much more of your new friend than of your old.”
Unjust as was the reproach, it wounded Mr. Ewart. “What would you have had me do, Charles?” he said sadly, but without anger. “Gross wrong had been done, I could set it right; a much-injured boy had been long kept from his birth-right, would you have had me join with his oppressors in depriving him of it?”
Charles was silent, but felt ashamed of his own injustice.
“At present you and I are alone in possession of the secret. Ann’s confession was made only to me; would you wish me, were the matter in your own choice, to hush up the affair, let all things go on as before, and leave you to enjoy—not enjoy, but possess—the title and estate, which is the right of a brother?”
“Oh no; I am not quite so wicked as that!” cried Charles, throwing himself into the arms of his friend, and burying his face in his bosom. “Forgive me! oh, forgive me my impatience and injustice! You were right; the things which it pains me so to part with, I was not fit to keep. They must have been my idols, though I did not know it. But this trial seems to have made me full of evil.”
“It has not made the evil, it has only shown it to you, my dear boy. Water often looks clear until it is stirred; but the stirring does not cause the sand which arises, it was there while the water looked purest.”