“Oh, Russell! don't I know how hard you have to work and how difficult it is for you to get even bread and clothes. “Electra, who told you that you burdened me?” “If I thought I should be weak and sickly all my life, I would rather die at once and burden you and Auntie no longer.” She colored, and bit her lip then answered, sorrowfully: “But you can't help me I have told you so time and again. “No but I know you are up, hard at work, and it keeps me awake. He stretched out his arm and drew her close to him. “Are you sick again, my poor little cousin?” Once more he looked up with a finger still in the dictionary, and asked impatiently: Quiet as his own shadow stood the fragile girl behind his chair, but as she watched him a heavy sigh escaped her. The candle had burned low he took a fresh one from the drawer of the table, and, after lighting it, drew a Latin dictionary near to him, opened a worn copy of Horace, and began to study. He wrote on for some ten minutes longer, then closed the ledger and put it aside. Her presence seemed to annoy him, for he turned round and said hastily: She was two years his junior, and though evidently the victim of recent and severe illness, even in her feebleness she was singularly like him. The speaker stood on the threshold, leaning against the door-facing, and, after waiting a few moments, softly crossed the room and put her hand on the back of his chair. He frowned, and answered without looking up. Firm as some brazen monument on its pedestal he sat and worked on, one hand wielding the pen, the other holding down the leaves which fluttered, now and then, as the breeze passed over them. I shall mount, though the world defy me.” Although he had labored since dawn, there was no drooping of the muscular frame, no symptom of fatigue, save in the absolute colorlessness of his face. It is always sad to remark in young faces the absence of that beaming enthusiasm which only a joyous heart imparts, and though in this instance there was nothing dark or sinister, you could not fail to be awed by the cold, dauntless resolution which said so plainly, “I struggle, and shall conquer. He looked just what he was-youthful in months and years, but old in trials, sorrows, and labors and to one who analyzed his countenance, the conviction was inevitable that his will was gigantic, his ambition unbounded, his intellect wonderfully acute and powerful. Yet, as he sat absorbed by his figures, there was nothing prepossessing or winning in his appearance for though you could not carp at the moulding of his features, you involuntarily shrank from the prematurely grave, nay, austere expression which seemed habitual to them. The lofty forehead, white and smooth the somewhat heavy brows, matching the hue of the hair the straight, finely-formed nose, with its delicate but clearly-defined nostril, and full firm lips, unshaded by mustache, combined to render the face one of uncommon beauty. The head was large, but faultlessly proportioned, and the thick black hair, cut short and clinging to the temples, added to its massiveness. He wore no vest, and the loosely-tied black ribbon suffered the snowy white collar to fall away from the throat and expose its well-turned outline. A gray suit (evidently home-made), of rather coarse texture, bespoke poverty and, owing to the oppressive heat of the atmosphere, the coat was thrown partially off. Sixteen years growth had given him unusual height and remarkable breadth of chest, and it was difficult to realize that the stature of manhood had been attained by a mere boy in years. In these latter days of physical degeneration, such athletic frames as his are rarely seen among the youth of our land. The flickering light fell upon grim battalions of figures marshalled on the long blue-lined pages of a ledger, and flashed fitfully on the face of the accountant as he bent over his work. The town-clock was on the last stroke of twelve, the solitary candle measured but two inches from its socket, and, as the summer wind rushed through the half-closed shutters, the melted tallow dripped slowly into the brightly-burnished brazen candlestick.
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