hope not," said Dick. "The ship will be paid off some day, and then
he will be able to come home, with plenty more in his pocket. I have
sometimes wished that I had stopped, but he advised me to run with him;
and it might have been better if I had been caught, and he got away."

"It cannot be helped, Dick," said Susan, inclined to take the matter
very philosophically; "though when the ten guineas are gone--and they
can't last for ever--I don't know what I shall do. If it hadn't been
for them, I should have been in the workhouse next week."

"I must tell my mother about you," said Dick; "maybe she'll send some
food for you and the children."

"Your mother will be a long way off, Dick. You haven't heard, maybe,
that they are going to leave the farm next week, and have taken one the
other side of Christchurch. Your father, after all, accepted Lord
Elverston's offer, though it was what my good man always said he would
not do if he was in his place, and the farm is to be taken into the
park. It was a sore trial to your father and mother, but after you went
they seemed not to care what became of them."

"And Janet! Have you heard how she is?" asked Dick, eagerly.

"She's better than she was, and it is said she's at the bottom of the
matter."

"How's that?" asked Dick, somewhat astonished.

"Why, Lady Elverston, who is a very kind lady--and even those who don't
like my lord confess that--was very often at your cottage, and one day
she told your mother that she thought Janet's sight might be restored.
She promised to take her up to London to a doctor of some sort, who
makes blind people see, they say. So it is all arranged, and after that
your father gave in. As soon as they move to their new home, Janet is
to go up with my lady."

Dick could scarcely believe what he heard, and was now, naturally
enough, in a greater hurry than ever to get home. He promised, if he
could manage it, to come back and see Mrs Rudall again.

In better spirits than he had been for some time, he set off on his walk
home. He had not much fear of being recognised, since Susan had failed
to know him. He therefore took the shortest road. Seeing a light
beaming through the window, he guessed that his father and mother were
still up. The door, however, was bolted. He knocked loudly, crying
out, "Let me in! let me in!"

"Oh, that's Dick!" he heard Janet exclaim.

The door was hastily opened, and in another minute he was in his
mo