nder to him now," and Bessie looked imploringly
at her; "indeed, he has always loved you, but you have repelled him so.
Richard," very softly, "will you not tell your mother that you mean to
be good to her?"

Mrs. Sefton looked up, and her eyes met her stepson's. "It was not my
fault, mother," he said, with suppressed emotion.

Bessie thought that he was speaking of their engagement, but Richard's
words conveyed a different meaning to his stepmother's ears. He was
going back to the past. Again he saw himself a shy, nervous boy,
standing before the proud, handsome girl who had just become his
father's wife. "He can never be anything to me," he heard her say; and
her low, bitter tones lingered long in his ears. "If I had known of his
existence it might have been different; but now--" and she turned away
with a gesture of dislike.

"Ritchie, my boy, you must ask this lady to forgive us both," his father
had observed, rather sadly.

How well Richard remembered that little scene! the discomfited
expression of his father's face; his own puzzled, childish feelings. All
these years he had suffered the consequences of his father's rash act.
"He can never be anything to me," she had said, and her words had come
true.

"Mother, it was not my fault," he said, looking into her eyes.

And for the first time she quailed before that sad, reproachful gaze; it
seemed to compel her to acknowledge the truth. "No, Richard; it was your
father's; it was he who estranged us," she returned slowly. "I was not
the woman to forgive deceit. I wish--I wish things could have been
different."

"They shall be different," he replied gently, "if you will have it so,
mother; it is not too late yet;" and though she did not answer, and
there was no response to that burst of generous feeling, there was
something in her face that gave Richard hope; neither did she repulse
him when he stooped over her and kissed her.

"Try to make the best of me," he said; and Mrs. Sefton sighed, and left
her hand in his.

Richard took Bessie out with him after that. He was agitated and
dispirited by the interview with his stepmother, and needed all the
comfort Bessie could give him.

"It is very hard to bear," were his first words, when he found himself
alone with her.

"Yes, it is very hard," she replied gently; "but you behaved so well it
made me so proud to hear you;" and Richard felt a glow of satisfaction
at her words.

"You were beside me, helping me al