Not that he was a popular character, or had within him the
mysterious attributes which are essential to that species of
success. To the public he was a cold abstraction, wholly destitute
of those rich lines of personality, that living warmth, and the
peculiar faculty of stamping his own heart's impression on a
multitude of hearts, by which the people recognize their favorites.
And it must be owned that, after his most intimate associates had
done their best to know him thoroughly, and love him warmly, they
were startled to find how little hold he had upon their affections.
They approved, they admired, but still in those moments when the
human spirit most craves reality, they shrank back from Gervayse
Hastings, as powerless to give them what they sought. It was the
feeling of distrustful regret with which we should draw back the
hand after extending it, in an illusive twilight, to grasp the hand
of a shadow upon the wall.

As the superficial fervency of youth decayed, this peculiar effect
of Gervayse Hastings's character grew more perceptible. His
children, when he extended his arms, came coldly to his knees, but
never climbed them of their own accord. His wife wept secretly, and
almost adjudged herself a criminal because she shivered in the chill
of his bosom. He, too, occasionally appeared not unconscious of the
chillness of his moral atmosphere, and willing, if it might be so,
to warm himself at a kindly fire. But age stole onward and benumbed
him snore and more. As the hoar-frost began to gather on him his
wife went to her grave, and was doubtless warmer there; his children
either died or were scattered to different homes of their own; and
old Gervayse Hastings, unscathed by grief,--alone, but needing no
companionship,--continued his steady walk through life, and still
one very Christmas day attended at the dismal banquet. His