And for a clerk, whose years were
only twenty-one, to oppose a manager, who had been in the service
more than the whole of that space, was preposterous insolence, and
likely to result in the utter ruin of his own prospects, and the
character he had begun to retrieve. It was just after this, the
real crisis, that he had the only dream which had not been misery
and distress. In it she--she yonder--yes, the lady with the lamp,
came and stood by him, and said, 'Be steadfast.'
'It was a dream,' said Clarence. 'She was not as she is in the
mullion room, not crying, but with a sweet, sad look, almost like
Miss Fordyce--if Miss Fordyce ever looked sad. It was only a
dream.'
Yet it had so refreshed and comforted him that we have often since
discussed whether the spirit really visited him, or whether this was
the manner in which conscience and imagination acted on his brain.
Indeed, he always believed that the dream had been either heaven-
sent or heaven-permitted.
The die had been cast in that interview when he had let it be seen
that he was dangerous, and could not be bought over. The after
consequences had been the terrible distress and temptation I have
before described, only most inadequately. 'But that,' said
Clarence, half smiling, 'only came of my being such a wretched
creature as I am. There, dear old Miss Newton saved me--yes, she
did--most unconsciously, dear old soul.
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