very poor one. There were no bridesmaids, or white dresses, or, indeed,
white favors in any form. The bride wore the plainest gray travelling
suit. She was given away by her gray-headed father; Charlotte Home stood
close behind her; Mr. Home married the couple, and Uncle Sandy acted as
best man. Surely no tamer ending could come to what was once meant to be
such a brilliant affair. Immediately after the ceremony, the bride and
bridegroom went away for two days and Mrs. Home went back to Prince's
Gate with Mr. Harman, for she had promised Charlotte to take care of her
father until her return.

Many changes were contemplated. The grand house in Prince's gate was to
be given up, and the Hintons were to live in that large southern town
where Hinton was already obtaining a young barrister's great
ambition--briefs. Mr. Harman, while he lived, was to find his home with
his son and daughter.

Mr. Harman was now a peaceful and happy man, and so improved was his
health--so had the state of his mind affected his body, that though he
could never hope for cure of his malady, yet Sir George Anderson assured
him that with care he might live for a very much longer time than he had
thought possible a few months before. Thus death stood back, not
altogether thrust aside, but biding its time.

On the morning of Charlotte's wedding-day there arrived a letter from
Jasper.

"So you have told all?" he said to his brother. "Well, be it so. From
the time I knew the other trustee was not dead and had reached England,
I felt that discovery was at hand. No, thank you; I shall never come
back to England. If you can bear poverty and public disgrace, I cannot.
I have some savings of my own, and on these I can live during my
remaining days. Good-bye--we shall never meet again on earth! I repent,
do you say, of my share? Yes, the business turned out badly in the end.
What a heap of money those Homes will come in for! Stolen goods don't
prosper with a man! So it seems. Well, I shall stay out of England."

Jasper was true to his word. Not one of those who knew him in this tale
ever heard of him again.

Yes, the Homes were now very rich; but both Mr. and Mrs. Home were
faithful stewards of what was lent them from the Lord. Nor did the
Hintons miss what was taken from them. It is surely enough to say of
Charlotte and her husband that they were very happy.

But as sin, however repented of, must yet reap its own reward, so in
this instance the great