the threshold she turned round
and beckoned to me to follow her.

I whispered my father and went out. My mother was standing in the hall,
and I saw by the lamp that she had dried her tears, and that her face,
though very sad, was more composed.

"Sisty," she said, in a low voice which struggled to be firm, "promise
me that you will tell me all,--the worst, Sisty. They keep it from
me, and that is my hardest punishment; for when I don't know all that
he--that Austin suffers, it seems to me as if I had lost his heart.
Oh, Sisty, my child, my child, don't fear me! I shall be happy whatever
befalls us, if I once get back my privilege,--my privilege, Sisty, to
comfort, to share! Do you understand me?"

"Yes indeed, my mother! And with your good sense and clear woman's
wit, if you will but feel how much we want them, you will be the
best counsellor we could have. So never fear; you and I will have no
secrets."

My mother kissed me, and went away with a less heavy step.

As I re-entered, my father came across the room and embraced me.

"My son," he said in a faltering voice, "if your modest prospects in
life are ruined--"

"Father, father, can you think of me at such a moment? Me! Is it
possible to ruin the young and strong and healthy! Ruin me, with these
thews and sinews; ruin me, with the education you have given me,--thews
and sinews of the mind! Oh, no! there, Fortune is harmless! And you
forget, sir,--the saffron bag!"

Squills leaped up, and wiping his eyes with one hand, gave me a sounding
slap on the shoulder with the other.

"I am proud of the care I took of your infancy, Master Caxton. That
comes of strengthening the digestive organs in early childhood. Such
sentiments are a proof of magnificent ganglions in a perfect state of
order. When a man's tongue is as smooth as I am sure yours is, he slips
through misfortune like an eel."

I laughed outright, my father smiled faintly; and, seating myself, I
drew towards me a paper filled with Squills's memoranda, and said, "Now
to find the unknown quantity. What on earth is this? 'Supposed value
of books, L750.' Oh, father! this is impossible. I was prepared for
anything but that. Your books,--they are your life!"

"Nay," said my father; "after all, they are the offending party in this
case, and so ought to be the principal victims. Besides, I believe I
know most of them by heart. But, in truth, we are only entering all our
effects, to be sure [added my father