ment.

So when Mrs. Morrison came into the room with his slice of cake for
his supper, he said, 'Do you know whether father had anything to do
with sending that scholarship boy to Torrington's?'

'Why--isn't he a good boy?' said the lady.

'That isn't it, mother. He may be good--I dare say he is--but did
father send him there?'

'The County Council sent him; your father would not have the power.'

'I suppose not,' said Leonard in a satisfied tone.

'But why did you ask, my boy?' said the lady.

'Oh, it doesn't matter,' said Leonard, lightly. 'As long as daddy
didn't send him it's all right.'

'But what has happened? What sort of a boy is he?'

'Oh, he's all right, I dare say. Boys can't peach, you know, mother.'

And Leonard's light words sent his mother out with an aching heart.

'More trouble, I fear,' she said softly to herself, as she closed the
door and went back to the dining-room. 'Poor Dick! poor, dear Dick!
What misery he has brought to us all! And yet he was never
wicked--only weak.'

The lady buried her face in her handkerchief for a few minutes, but
roused herself when she heard the street door open and close, and went
and rung the bell for supper to be served.

'You are late to-night, dear,' she said, when her husband entered the
room.

'Yes, I have had a busy day, and am as hungry as a hunter. Chicks gone
to bed, I suppose, he added, as he looked round the room before going
to wash his hands and change his coat for a comfortable hour by his
own fireside.

A tasty hot supper was on the table when he came back, but he noticed
as he ate that his wife scarcely touched hers; but he did not ask what
was troubling her until the meal was over and the table cleared. Then
he said, leaning back in his chair--

'Now, little woman, I have done my duty to your nice supper, which I
know is all you have been waiting for. Now tell me what is amiss. Has
Flo cut her finger, or Len got into mischief?' he asked.

'No, dear, the children are all right,' said Mrs. Morrison, with a
sigh; 'but I have been wondering whether you were wise to get that
little board school boy sent to Torrington's. You did have a good deal
to do with it, I know,' added the lady.

'To be sure I did. The lad had fairly earned the Thompson Scholarship,
and, from all we heard of the lad and his relatives, we thought he
would be an acquisition to the school rather than otherwise. His
mother was a patient of mine about a year ago, and