"No, not one," said Hugh, raising his eyes at last with a brighter
expression. "I cannot tell you about that debt, Aunt Faith, but I
_can_ tell you that it was no disgrace to me."

The shadow melted away from Mrs. Sheldon's face, she laid her hand
upon her nephew's golden hair, and looked lovingly into his dark blue
eyes. "Hugh," she said earnestly, "you are like your father, and he
was my favorite brother. I love you very much, more than you know, and
I believe you would not willingly grieve me. You are still under
twenty-one, and you are soon to leave me to enter the busy life of a
great city. I am so anxious for you, Hugh! If I could only know that
you had that firm faith which is man's only safeguard in temptation!"

Tears stood in her eyes as she spoke, and Hugh felt that she loved him
indeed.

"What is faith?" he said thoughtfully.

"A firm belief in the mercy of God through His son, our Lord Jesus
Christ, and a realization of the necessity of a Saviour to atone for
our sins," said Aunt Faith reverently.

"I believe in God, Aunt Faith. I believe in Him implicitly. I cannot
understand how a reasonable being can deny His personal and omnipotent
majesty. The sky alone would be enough to convince me, without
counting the wonders of the earth and our every-day life. How can any
one look out of the window, at night, and see those myriad lights on
high, without bowing in adoration before the incomprehensible
greatness of the Creator? What do we know of the stars, after all? How
much has the most profound science discovered? Next to nothing! Not