oracle; the longer he lives, the greater the dignity of his
experience; he remembers the great storm, the great tide, the
great catch, the great shipwreck; and on all emergencies his
counsel has weight. He still busies himself about the boats too,
and still sails on sunny days to show the youngsters the best
fishing-ground. When too infirm for even this, he can at least
sun himself beside the landing, and, dreaming over inexhaustible
memories, watch the bark of his own life go down.



THE HAUNTED WINDOW.

It was always a mystery to me where Severance got precisely his
combination of qualities. His father was simply what is called a
handsome man, with stately figure and curly black hair, not
without a certain dignity of manner, but with a face so shallow
that it did not even seem to ripple, and with a voice so prosy
that, when he spoke of the sky, you wished there were no such
thing. His mother was a fair, little, pallid
creature,--wash-blond, as they say of lace,--patient, meek, and
always fatigued and fatiguing. But Severance, as I first knew
him, was the soul of activity. He had dark eyes, that had a great
deal of light in them, without corresponding depth; his hair was
dark, straight, and very soft; his mouth expressed sweetness,
without much strength; he talked well; and though he was apt to
have a wandering look, as if his thoughts were laying a submarine
cable to another continent, yet the young girls were always glad
to have the semblance of conversation with him in this. To me he
was in the last degree lovable. He had just enough of that