he prize money of the various forts and towns, in whose capture
they had taken part; although Charlie possessed some twenty thousand
pounds more than his friend, this being the amount of the presents he
had received, from the Rajah of Ambur.

Alighting from the carriage, Charlie ran up to the door and knocked.
Inquiring for Mrs. Marryat, he was shown into a room in which a lady,
somewhat past middle age, and three younger ones were sitting. They
looked up, in surprise, as the young man entered. Ten years had
changed him almost beyond recognition, but one of the younger ones at
once leaped to her feet, and exclaimed, "Charlie!"

His mother rose with a cry of joy, and threw herself into his arms.
After rapturously kissing her, he turned to the others. Their faces
were changed, yet all seemed equally familiar to him, and in his
delight he equally embraced them all.

"Hullo!" he exclaimed, when he freed himself from their arms. "Why,
there are three of you! What on earth am I doing? I have somebody's
pardon to beg; and yet, although your faces are changed, they seem
equally familiar to me. Which is it?

"But I need not ask," he said, as a cloud of colour flowed over the
face of one of the girls, while the others smiled mischievously.

"You are Katie," he said, "and you are Lizzie, certainly, and this
is--why, it is Ada!

"This is a surprise, indeed; but I sha'n't beg your pardon, Ada, for I
kissed you at parting, and quite intended to do so when I met again,
at least if you had offered no violent objection.

"How you are all grown and changed, while you, Mother, look scarcely
older than when I left you.

"But there, I have quite forgotten Peters. He has come home with me,
and will stay till he has formed his own plans."

He hurried out and brought in Peters; who, not wishing to be present
at the family meeting, had been paying the coachman, and seeing to the
things being brought into the house. He was warmly received, by the
ladies, as the friend and companion of Charlie in his adventures;
scarcely a letter having been received, from the latter, without
mention having been made of his comrade.

In a minute or two Mr. Tufton, who had been in the large garden behind
the house, hurried in. He was now quite an old man; and under the
influence of age, and the cheerful society of Mrs. Marryat and her
daughters, he had lost much of the pomposity which had before
distinguished him.

"Ah! Nephew," he said, when the hap