CHAPTER XLI.
ending with a rupture of the hypothesis.
"With what heart," cried Frank, still in character,
"have you told me this story? A story I can no way
approve; for its moral, if accepted, would drain me of
all reliance upon my last stay, and, therefore, of my last courage in life. For, what was that bright view of
China Aster but a cheerful trust that, if he but kept up
a brave heart, worked hard, and ever hoped for the best,
all at last would go well? If your purpose, Charlie, in
telling me this story, was to pain me, and keenly, you
have succeeded; but, if it was to destroy my last confidence, I praise God you have not."
"Confidence?" cried Charlie, who, on his side, seemed with his whole heart to enter into the spirit of the thing, "what has confidence to do with the matter? That moral of the story, which I am for commending to you, is this: the folly, on both sides, of a friend's helping a friend. For was not that loan of Orchis to China Aster the first step towards their estrangement? And did it not bring about what in effect was the enmity of Orchis? I tell you, Frank, true friendship, like other precious things, is not rashly to be meddled with. And
