way. She had
caught a glimpse of Peet at his work, looking gloomier and more surly
than ever.

'Peet,' she said, running up to him with a sunny smile and a hand held
out, 'how are you? Dick is looking better, I think, and Mrs. Peet was as
nice and as well as ever. She gave me such a welcome yesterday, and said
she was so glad to see me. It is lovely to see you all again.'

'Welcome back, Miss,' returned Peet, taking the little hand shyly. 'I am
not one to talk, but I am right glad to set eyes on you.'

'Thank you, Peet. But there is one thing that I do not feel happy about,
and that is dear Aunt Betty. How different she seems--not half so strong
as she used to be!'

'No, Miss, she is not. She has been ill with losing you. We did miss you
sore, Miss.'

'It's nice of you to say so. But is it not wonderful that Jack should
have picked me up when I fell into the sea? It was high tide, you know,
and I was swept out so far I should have been drowned but for him. He
took me home, and both he and his mother were so good to me.'

She told him the story which she had already related once that morning,
dwelling especially on Jack's gallant rescue.

'Oh, Peet, he is such a good fellow,' she went on, 'so kind to every
one, and so good to his mother! As to _her_, she is just the best mother
possible. Peet, do you know Jack--have you spoken to him?'

She was anxious to know if Jack had had his interview; from Peet's
manner she feared he had not, or that something was wrong.

'Why should I speak to him?' asked the gardener, in his most forbidding
tones.

'Because Dick has,' she ventured, scarcely knowing how to say more in
Peet's surly mood.

'Dick and I are two different persons, Miss.'

'Yes,' said Estelle, softly, 'Dick is a--is very near Heaven, Aunt Betty
says. Peet, I think it is worse for the man who has done the wrong.'

'Do you, Miss? Well, _I_ can't see it. It's not my way of thinking,
anyhow.'

'It would be,' said Estelle, taking her courage in both hands, 'if you
believed in forgiveness at all. Auntie told us what a hard time you had
with Dick's illness,' continued Estelle, as Peet's face had not
relented, 'but you are all right now. Jack has had a hard time too,
because he was so dreadfully sorry for the wrong he had done. But it is
not all right with him, and he says it never will be, because he cannot
undo the harm.'

'No, he can't,' replied Peet, grimly.

'Well,' said Estelle, with a sigh, 'I am gla