again, vainly--and then, impatient of further delay, he ascended the

dark, creaking stairs. His main wish, more particularly now that he

witnessed the abject dwelling of the artist, was to relieve one, possessed

of talent, but depressed by want. He pictured to himself a youth, whose

eyes sparkled with genius, whose person was attenuated by famine. He half

feared to displease him; but he trusted that his generous kindness would be

administered so delicately, as not to excite repulse. What human heart is

shut to kindness? and though poverty, in its excess, might render the

sufferer unapt to submit to the supposed degradation of a benefit, the zeal

of the benefactor must at last relax him into thankfulness. These thoughts

encouraged Raymond, as he stood at the door of the highest room of the

house. After trying vainly to enter the other apartments, he perceived just

within the threshold of this one, a pair of small Turkish slippers; the

door was ajar, but all was silent within. It was probable that the inmate

was absent, but secure that he had found the right person, our adventurous

Protector was tempted to enter, to leave a purse on the table, and silently

depart. In pursuance of this idea, he pushed open the door gently--but

the room was inhabited.

Raymond had never visited the dwellings of want, and the scene that now

presented itself struck him to the heart. The floor was sunk in many

places; the walls ragged and bare--the ceiling weather-stained--a

tattered bed stood in the corner; there were but two chairs in the room,

and a rough broken table, on which was a light in a tin candlestick;--yet

in the midst of such drear and heart sickening poverty, there was an air of

order and cleanliness that surprised him. The thought was fleeting; for his

142

The Last Man