he did
for years and years, though he was making a fortune for us. I tell you
that money has been bought too dearly, and for mother's sake I don't
feel as though I could touch a penny of it.'

'Oh, Fred! think how unhappy she will be if you say that to her.'

'I have said it,' replied Fred bitterly. 'I wrote and told her that I
hoped she would leave me to be a carpenter, and live on in the little
cottage where she had worked so hard.'

'Oh, how could you--what did she say?' cried Horace, with the tears
shining in his eyes.

Fred covered his face for a moment. 'She begged me to forgive my
father for her sake, as though it was not for her sake I feel as I
do.'

'Yes, yes, I know,' said Horace. 'But you will have to do as she says,
or else we shall all be so unhappy. Oh, Fred, for mother's sake, for
my sake, forgive father! for why should I lose my brother because my
father has come home? I cannot help myself. I must let him help me,
and if he did stay and work for this money just to prove that he was
sorry for what he had done so long ago, I think we ought to forgive
him, as mother has. He is ill, too, through the hardships he had to
endure.'

'Oh, Horry, if only he hadn't gone away like that! To have to forgive
your father, instead of looking up to him as Len Morrison does, is so
bitter; and it might all have been so different if only he had kept on
doing his duty and asking God to help him when things were a bit
harder than usual.'

'Oh, Fred, ask God to help you now, to help you forgive him for
mother's sake, and for Jesus Christ's sake!' cried Horace, in a
passion of tears.

'I have, dear, I have! and I think I shall be able to do it soon; but
I think God wanted me to see that making a fortune can't make up for
not doing the right thing at the right time; no, not even to the
people you may make the fortune for. I shall have to let my father
know this before I can fully forgive him.'

It was a bitter lesson for the returned prodigals to learn, for
Leonard Morrison took the same view concerning his uncle, having
memories of days when his mother was too ill and too sad to be glad
with them; and he heard now from his father that this was generally
caused by some memory of the dearly loved brother who had fled from
them under a cloud of disgrace.

At length, however, Fred wrote and assured his mother that for her
sake, and for his brother's, he would do as they wished, and join
them at the sea-side, when Ho