the diplomas
were given; and, directly, Tommy joined them, attended by two admiring
followers laden with the trophies. Mrs. O'Halloran and Mrs. Macillarney
and divers of the friends, both male and female, joined the circle.
Tommy held quite a little court. He shook hands with all the ladies,
beginning with Mrs. Carriswood (who certainly never had found herself
before in such a company, jammed between Alderman McGinnis's resplendent
new tweeds and Mrs. Macillarney's calico); he affectionately embraced
his mother, and he allowed himself to be embraced by Mrs. Macillarney
and Mrs. O'Halloran, while Patrick Fitzmaurice shook hands with the
alderman.

"Here's the lady that helped me on me piece, father; she's the lady
that sent me the horseshoe, mother. Like to make you acquainted with me
father and me mother. Mr. and Mrs. Fitzmaurice, Mrs. Carriswood."

In these words, Tommy, blushing and happy, presented his happy parents.

"Sure, I'm proud to meet you, ma'am," said Fitzmaurice, bowing, while
his wife courtesied and wiped her eyes.

They were very grateful, but they were more grateful for the flowers
than for the oratorical drilling. No doubt they thought that their Tommy
could have done as well in any case; but the splendid horseshoe was
another matter!

Ten years passed before Mrs. Carriswood saw her pupil again. During
those years the town had increased and prospered; so had the Lossing Art
Furniture Works. It was after Harry Lossing had disappointed his father.
This is not saying that he had done anything out of the way; he had
simply declined to be the fourth Harry Lossing on the rolls of Harvard
College. Instead, he proposed to enter the business and to begin by
learning his own trade. He was so industrious, he kept at it with such
energy that his first convert was his father--no, I am wrong, Mrs.
Carriswood was the first; Mrs. Lossing was not a convert, SHE had
believed in Harry from the beginning. But all this was years before Mrs.
Carriswood's visit.

Another of Master Harry's notions was his belief in the necessity of his
"meddling"--so his father put it--in the affairs of the town, the state,
and the nation, as well as those of the Lossing furniture company. But,
though he was pleased to make rather cynical fun of his son's
political enthusiasm, esteeming it in a sense a diverting and therefore
reprehensible pursuit for a business man, the elder Lossing had a
sneaking pride in it, all the same. He liked t