She looked at him anxiously. 'I think you had better go to bed at once,'
she said.

'Well--I shall be out of the way there,' said the son wearily. 'Having
ruined myself, don't let me ruin you by being seen in these togs, for
Heaven's sake. Who do you say Sally is going to be married to--a Farmer
Darton?'

'Yes--a gentleman-farmer--quite a wealthy man. Far better in station
than she could have expected. It is a good thing, altogether.'

'Well done, little Sal!' said her brother, brightening and looking up at
her with a smile. 'I ought to have written; but perhaps I have thought
of you all the more. But let me get out of sight. I would rather go and
jump into the river than be seen here. But have you anything I can
drink? I am confoundedly thirsty with my long tramp.'

'Yes, yes, we will bring something upstairs to you,' said Sally, with
grief in her face.

'Ay, that will do nicely. But, Sally and mother--' He stopped, and they
waited. 'Mother, I have not told you all,' he resumed slowly, still
looking on the floor between his knees. 'Sad as what you see of me is,
there's worse behind.'

His mother gazed upon him in grieved suspense, and Sally went and leant
upon the bureau, listening for every sound, and sighing. Suddenly she
turned round, saying, 'Let them come, I don't care! Philip, tell the
worst, and take your time.'

'Well, then,' said the unhappy Phil, 'I am not the only one in this mess.
Would to Heaven I were! But--'

'O, Phil!'

'I have a wife as destitute as I.'

'A wife?' said his mother.

'Unhappily!'

'A wife! Yes, that is the way with sons!'

'And besides--' said he.

'Besides! O, Philip, surely--'

'I have two little children.'

'Wife and children!' whispered Mrs. Hall, sinking down confounded.

'Poor little things!' said Sally involuntarily.

His mother turned again to him. 'I suppose these helpless beings are
left in Australia?'

'No. They are in England.'

'Well, I can only hope you've left them in a respectable place.'

'I have not left them at all. They are here--within a few yards of us.
In short, they are in the stable.'

'Where?'

'In the stable. I did not like to bring them indoors till I had seen
you, mother, and broken the bad news a bit to you. They were very tired,
and are resting out there on some straw.'

Mrs. Hall's fortitude visibly broke down. She had been brought up not
without refinement, and was even more moved by such a collaps