'The good must merit God's peculiar care;
But who but God can tell us who they are!'
"'Ah, who indeed?' said Mr Darsy, smiling. 'There is the difficulty.'
"'Ay, there, indeed, it is,' said the stranger, smiling in his turn. 'Who but God can tell the pure from the impure of heart? Who but he separate the tares from the wheat, the corn from the chaff? None else, indeed, my respected friend'—looking benevolently on Mr Darsy.
"'My dear sir,' replied the latter, emphatically, and taking his benevolent looking visiter by the hand, to mark his deep sense of the truths which he delivered—'my dear sir,' he said, adding no more in words, but looking the remainder of the sentence, which, when translated, said—'you speak well and wisely.' After a moment—'My good sir!' exclaimed Mr Darsy, glancing at his visiter's shoes, which appeared much travel-soiled, 'I suspect you have had a long walk to-day. You seemed fatigued. Now, you will take a little of something or other—a glass or two of wine, or a little brandy, or something of that sort, till dinner is ready.'
"'You are too good—too good, my very excellent and much-respected friend,' replied the stranger; 'but,' he added, with a subdued yet significant look, 'there are other men of Ross than he whom Pope celebrated. There are others—
'Whose causeway parts the vale with shady rows,
Whose seats the weary traveller repose.'
"This couplet, which was given in a mild and gentle tone, was so palpably directed to Mr Darsy, that he could not avoid seeing its intended application to himself; and, seeing this, he shook his head and smiled a disclaimer.
"'My good friend,' he said, 'I have but slender pretension to any portion of that noble character, so masterly drawn by the immortal bard of Twickenham; yet do I agree with what the poet elsewhere says, that
'All fame is foreign but of true desert—
Plays round the head, but comes not to the heart—
One self-approving hour whole years outweighs
Of stupid starers and of loud hurrahs;
And more true joy Marcellus, exiled, feels,
Than Cæsar with a senate at his heels.'
"The stranger smiled, bowed, and looked benevolently on his host.