t you remember me? It is Jeff Scott."

The boy had taken off his cap in a salute to his old friend. The
beauty of his yellow curls was fully revealed. All the sickly paleness
resulting from tropical heats had disappeared from Jeff's face, and he
stood now on the deck a fair specimen of a healthy English lad.

Captain Clark instantly recognized the steady brown eyes. They
recalled another pair of eyes, infinitely sadder, but oh, how like!
The golden-haired lady down-stairs had been put under his especial
charge, with many injunctions to see to her welfare. But the voyage
had not brought back the expected health to her cheek or light to her
eyes. It was with a heart full of pity that this good man turned to
the boy.

"Eh, my boy, and is it really you? I am glad to see you. Have you
come to take a passage back with me?"

But Jeff was not in the mood for any joking this morning.

"I have come to see mother," he said with infinite gravity. "I know
she is one of your passengers. Let me go to her at once. Who will
tell me which is her cabin?"

The good old sailor's weather-beaten face changed a little.

"You will perhaps take her by surprise, my lad. She is ill--very
weak--she cannot stand any shock. Which of her friends or relatives
has come to meet her?"

"I have come--only," said Jeff, "I ran away to do it. She would expect
me, of course."

Captain Clark looked at the boy, whose fair face flashed at some
painful recollection.

"Well done, Jeff." The old captain's voice was husky. "Come with me
at once. We will find your mother's maid or the stewardess, but you
must promise to be very gentle and not to agitate her."

Jeff smiled with superior wisdom. How could his presence agitate his
beloved mother?

At one of the state-room doors off the saloon Captain Clark knocked
gently.

An elderly woman answered the summons at once, and held up her finger
with a warning "Hush! she is asleep, poor lady! do not wake her."

Then Jeff came a little forward, trembling with eagerness, his eyes
full of yearning.

"This is her boy, Mrs. Parsons, who has come alone from Scotland to
meet her."

Jeff's steadfast eyes met the woman's, but he did not understand the
look of pity in them. Why should anyone be sorry for him, now that the
sad years of separation had come to an end?

"Come in then, laddie, very softly. She's been talking day and night
of her bairn; but you must, mind, let her have her sleep ou