r a while. He liked the lad from the first and soon he loved him. He
would not be losing time by remaining for a few weeks. He meant to
travel by and by, and see the country, and in the meantime he might do
something toward helping Willie to make a man of himself for Allison's
sake.

So he went to the stone-yard, and did his day's work with the rest. It
was hard work for a while. He had got out of the way of it somewhat,
and he had not got back his strength altogether. The day was long, and
he was glad when night came. After the first week, however, he was
himself again, and then he grew strong and brown, and was as fit for his
work as ever he had been, he told his mother in the second letter which
he sent her, after he began.

He told her about William Bain. But that was for herself alone. As no
one else in Nethermuir had ever heard of the lad, it was not necessary
to speak of him there, lest his name might be mentioned in the hearing
of some who might not wish him or his sister well. He did not write to
Allison about her brother. Mr Hadden did that, and the story of John's
kindness to the lad lost nothing in being told by him.

Before the summer was over, John had begun to consider the question,
whether, after all, it might not be as well for him to stay where he
was, and take up a new life in a new land. His mother had more than
once in her letters assured him of her willingness to come out to him
should he decide to remain in America. But there was to be no haste
about it. He must be quite certain of himself and his wishes, and he
must have won such a measure of success, as to prove that he was not
making a mistake, before she joined him. It might be better for him to
be alone for a while, that he might be free to come and go, and do the
very best for himself. The best for himself, would be best for his
mother. And in the meantime she was well and strong, in the midst of
kind friends, and content to wait. And she would be more than content
to join him when the right time came.

And so John followed his mother's counsel. He kept his eyes open and
"worked away," and by the end of the first year, he began to see his way
clear to "the measure of success" which his mother desired for him. He
had proved himself, as a workman, worthy of the confidence of those who
had employed him, and as a man, he had won the esteem of many a one
besides. That he worked with his hands, did not in that country, at