All the better elements of his nature were quickened into activity.

Useful daily employment tranquillized his spirits; and not unfrequently he found himself repeating the words of Longfellow-- "Something attempted, something done, Had earned a night's repose." So entirely was every thing of earthly fortune wrecked, and so changed were all his relations to the business world, that hope had yet no power to awaken his mind to ambition.

For the present, therefore, he was content to receive the reward of daily toil, and to be thankful that he was yet able to supply the real wants of his family.

A cheerful tone of feeling gradually succeeded the state of deep depression from which he had suffered.

His spirit, which had walked in darkness, began to perceive that light was breaking in through the hitherto impenetrable gloom, and as it fell upon the path he was treading, a flower was seen here and there, while the roughness his imagination had pictured became not visible.
Nearly a year had glided away since the wreck of Markland's fortune, and little or no change in his worldly prospects was visible.