"There are no such," said Gertrude, with decision.
"Do you see," said Mr. Phillips, "this curtain of thick clouds, now overshadowing the world? Even so many a heart is weighed down and overshadowed by thick and impenetrable darkness."
"But the light shines brightly above the clouds," said Gertrude.
"Above! well, that may be; but what avails it to those who see it not?"
"It is sometimes a weary and toilsome road that leads to the mountain-top; but the pilgrim is well repaid for the trouble which brings him above the clouds," replied Gertrude, with enthusiasm.
"Few ever find the road that leads so high," responded her melancholy companion; "and those who do cannot live long in so elevated an atmosphere. They must come down from their height, and again dwell among the common herd; again mingle in the warfare with the mean, the base, and the cruel."
"But they have seen the glory; they know that the light is ever burning on high, and will have faith to believe it will pierce the gloom at last. See, see," said she, her eyes glowing with the fervour with which she spoke—"even now the heaviest clouds are parting; the sun will soon light up the valley!"
She pointed as she spoke to a wide fissure which was gradually disclosing itself, as the hitherto solid mass of clouds separated on either side, and then turned to the stranger to see if he observed the change; but, with the same smile upon his unmoved countenance, he was watching, not the display of nature in the distance, but that close at his side. He was gazing with intense interest upon the young and ardent worshipper of the beautiful and the true; and, in studying her features and observing the play of her countenance, he seemed so wholly absorbed that Gertrude—believing he was not listening to her words, but had fallen into one of his absent moods—ceased speaking, rather abruptly, and was turning away, when he said——
"Go on, happy child! Teach me, if you can, to see the world tinged with the rosy colouring it wears for you; teach me to love and pity as you do that miserable thing called man. I warn you that you have a difficult task, but you seem to be very hopeful."
"Do you hate the world?" asked Gertrude, with straightforward simplicity.