it
suits me to a dot. I'm delighted--enchanted. Of course you'll live in
Chicago. That's another blow against John Bull. We'll be mistress of the
seas yet. Here, let me kiss you both, my children, and take the blessing
of a woman who has not lived fifty years for nothing."

CHAPTER XXII.

THE WEAVER--FATE!

Even in the midst of his happiness John Craig has not forgotten the one
important fact that brought him to Algiers.

While he can devote himself to laying a plan for the accomplishment of a
certain object, and with the assistance of Lady Ruth arrange to surprise
Sir Lionel Blunt, he is at the same time anxiously awaiting news.

Will old Ben Taleb carry out his promise? The heart of the young man
beats high with hope.

Unconscious of a great surprise in store for him, John enters the hotel
with Lady Ruth.

"A gentleman in the parlor to see you, sir."

John's face flashes; the instantaneous thought flashes into his mind
that a messenger has at length come from the Moorish doctor.

He enters.

His eyes are dazzled a little by the glare of the sun on white
buildings, and the room is dim. A man's figure advances toward him.
Surely that step is familiar. Good heavens, what a shock comes upon him!

"Father!"

"John, my boy!"

He has believed this father to be at the other side of the world. He is
surprised at the warmth of the greeting he receives. Really, this is
quite unlike the proud man John has known all his life, a man who
seemed to ever surround himself with a wall of coldness.

A sudden shock runs through John's frame. It is as if he has been given
the negative and positive ends of a battery. He believes that his mother
is here, in this city. Can that have anything to do with his father's
coming?

A feeling of resentment springs up, then dies away as he gets a good
look at his parent's face.

"Father, what has happened? Have you failed; has any disaster come upon
us?"

"Why do you ask that, John?"

"Your face; it is changed so. I miss something I have been accustomed to
see there."

Duncan Craig smiles.

"Ah! John, my boy, please Heaven, I am changed. I have been humbled in
the dust, and I believe I have emerged from the furnace, I trust, a far
better man."

John is puzzled. He cannot make out what has caused this humbling on the
part of his proud paternal ancestor, nor is he able to hazard a guess as
to the effect it may have upon his fortunes.

Craig, Sr., does not explain