"For I have money yet left," said the old man; "and henceforth have no motive to be a miser." He proceeded then briefly to relate the origin and circumstances of his connection with his intended murderer.
It seems that in earlier life he had quarrelled with his relations,--from a difference in opinions of belief.

Rejecting all religion as a fable, he yet cultivated feelings that inclined him--for though his intellect was weak, his dispositions were good--to that false and exaggerated sensibility which its dupes so often mistake for benevolence.

He had no children; he resolved to adopt an enfant du peuple.

He resolved to educate this boy according to "reason." He selected an orphan of the lowest extraction, whose defects of person and constitution only yet the more moved his pity, and finally engrossed his affection.

In this outcast he not only loved a son, he loved a theory! He brought him up most philosophically.