down to examine and reflect: I pored alike over the pages of the
philosopher and the theologian; I was neither baffled by the subtleties
nor deterred by the contradictions of either. As men first ascertained
the geography of the earth by observing the signs of the heavens, I did
homage to the Unknown God, and sought from that worship to inquire into
the reasonings of mankind. I did not confine myself to books--all things
breathing or inanimate constituted my study. From death itself I
endeavoured to extract its secret; and whole nights I have sat in the
crowded asylums of the dying, watching the last spark flutter and decay.
Men die away as in sleep, without effort, or struggle, or emotion. I
have looked on their countenances a moment before death, and the serenity
of repose was upon them, waxing only more deep as it approached that
slumber which, is never broken: the breath grew gentler and gentler, till
the lips it came from fell from each other, and all was hushed; the light
had departed from the cloud, but the cloud itself, gray, cold, altered as
it seemed, was as before. They died and made no sign. They had left the
labyrinth without bequeathing us its clew. It is in vain that I have
sent my spirit into the land of shadows--it has borne back no witnesses
of its inquiry. As Newton said of himself, 'I picked up a few shells by
the seashore, but the great ocean of truth lay undiscovered before me.'"

There was a long pause. Lady Margaret had sat down to chess with the
Spaniard. No look was upon the lovers: their eyes met, and with that one
glance the whole current of their thoughts was changed. The blood, which
a moment before had left Falkland's cheek so colourless, rushed back to
it again. The love which had so penetrated and pervaded his whole
system, and which abstruser and colder reflection had just calmed,
thrilled through his frame with redoubled power. As if by an involuntary
and mutual impulse, their lips met: he threw his arm round her; he
strained her to his bosom. "Dark as my thoughts are," he whispered,