regarded only as the nephew and probable heir of the wealthy Dr. Owen,
very few knowing of or remembering his connection with the old
grey-gabled farm by the sea.

A hurried scrap-end of the time at his disposal was spent at Garthowen,
where his father was consumed alternately by a feverish longing to see
him, and a bitter disappointment at the shortness of his visit. He was
beginning to find out that the love--almost idolatry--which he had
lavished upon his son did not bring him the comfort and happiness for
which he had hoped.

Will was affable and sometimes affectionate in his demeanour while he
was present with his father; but he showed no desire to prolong his
visits beyond the time allotted him by his uncle, who seemed more and
more to appropriate to himself the nephew whose acquaintance he had so
lately made. This in itself chafed and irritated Ebben Owens, and he
felt a bitter anger against the brother who had ignored him for so
long, and was now stealing from him what was more precious to him than
life itself. He tried to rejoice in his son's golden prospects, and
perhaps would have succeeded had Will shown himself less ready to drop
the old associations of home and the past, and a more tender clinging
to the friends of his youth; but this was far from being Will's state
of feeling. More and more he felt how incongruous were the simple ways
of Garthowen with the formal and polished manners of his uncle's
household, and that of the society to which his uncle's prestige had
given him the entree. He was not so callous as to feel no pain at the
necessity of withdrawing himself entirely from his old relations with
Garthowen, but he considered it his bounden duty to do so. He had
chosen his path; he had put his hand to the plough, and he must not
look back, and the dogged persistence which was a part of his nature
came to his assistance.

"_I_ could pay all your expenses, my boy," said his father, with a
touching humility unnoticed by Will. "I have been saving up all my
money since you went to college, and now there it is lying idle in the
bank."

"Well, father, it would only offend my uncle if I did not let him
supply all my wants; and as my future depends so much upon him, would
it be wise of me to do that?"

"No, no, my boy, b'tshwr, it wouldn't. I am a foolish old man, and
must not keep my boy back when he is getting on so grand. Och fi! Och
fi!" and he sighed deeply.

"Och fi!" laughed Ann and