ned to be ugly and sullen;
but, on the other hand, as he was a young offender, It might be
conscience began to awaken. And Miss Muster believed that, since she
meant to let him off this time, she at least ought to impress a lesson
of some kind on him.

"It means the penitentiary for a boy who begins to steal, as you show
signs of doing, Gabe; yes, and a broken heart for your poor mother. Oh!
I do hope this will be a warning that you will keep before you always.
Because of that mother I am going to let you off this time, my boy; but
unless you mend your ways there is only one end before you. Fred here
will keep your secret also; you can depend on him. And make up your
mind, Gabe, that even though you think you have succeeded in doing some
evil deed in secret, the truth will sooner or later come out, Now you
can go. I shall not speak to your employer, nor tell your mother; but
from time to time I am going to have something to say to _you,_ my boy.
I want to be your friend."

Gabe had never opened his mouth to utter a single word, and when he
hurriedly took his departure Fred was not sure but what it was a wide
grin that appeared on his face; as though he fancied that he had gotten
off cheaply after all. Whether Gabe would take his lesson seriously and
reform, was a question in Fred's mind.

"That ends it, thank goodness!" remarked Miss Muster, after they had
seen Gabe turn the path in the direction of his own home. "And now,
Fred, you get your lunch. After Ive had my own I shall drop in to see
my niece, and confess all my shortcomings. I fancy she will be too
happy at learning her boy is innocent to hold any grudge against her
wretched old aunt."

"Thank you," said Fred, laughing; "I do feel kind of hungry now. Just
knowing what bully good news I've got for Bris--I mean Andy--seems to
give me an appetite. I'll get there just in time to sit down with
mother and Kate; because father doesn't come home at noon from the
works."

"And, Fred, believe me when I say that I'll never forget what you've
done for me and mine," were the parting words of the old spinster, as
she squeezed the boy's hand.

"I'm glad, because I just know you'll make it all up with Bris--that
is, Andy," he said; and she nodded her head in the affirmative.

And at the lunch table, after making them promise that it should go no
further than the head of the Fenton family, Fred interested his mother
and sister by a recital of the strange case of the di