ar that, I daresay, but
it's a fact. He got a ticket-of-leave, and never rested till he found
out where Nora was. He came to us one evening some time ago, and fell
down in a sort of fit close to the lighthouse-door, while Nora was
sitting in front of it, and the children were romping with Neptune
beside her. Poor fellow! he was so changed, so old, and so white-haired
and worn, that we did not know him at first; but after we had washed the
blood off his face--for he had cut himself when he fell--I recognised
the old features.

"But he is changed in other respects too, in a way that has filled my
dear wife's heart with joy. Of course you are aware that he got no
drink during the seven years of his imprisonment. Now that he is free
he refuses to let a drop of anything stronger than water pass his lips.
He thinks it is his only chance, and I believe he is right. He says
that nothing but the thought of Nora, and the hope of one day being
permitted to return to ask her forgiveness on his knees, enabled him to
endure his long captivity with resignation. I do assure you, father,
that it almost brings tears to my eyes to see the way in which that man
humbles himself before his daughter. Nora's joy is far too deep for
words, but it is written plainly in her face. She spent all her spare
time with him at first, reading the Bible to him, and trying to convince
him that it was not the thought of _her_, but God's mercy and love that
had put it into his heart to repent, and desire to reform. He does not
seem quite inclined to take that view of it, but he will come to it,
sooner or later, for we have the sure promise that the Lord will finish
the good work He has begun. We have hired a room for him in a little
village within half a mile of us. It is small, but comfortable enough,
and he seems to be quite content with it--as well he may be, with Nora
and the children going constantly about him!

"I tell you what, father, the longer I live with Nora, the more I feel
that I have got the truest-hearted and most loveable wife in all the
wide world! The people of the village would go any length to serve her;
and as to their children, I believe they worship the ground she walks
on, as Jerry MacGowl used to say."

"Och, the idolatrous haythens!" growled Jerry.

"And the way she manages our dear youngsters," continued the mate,
reading on, without noticing Jerry's interruption, "would do your heart
good to see. It reminds me o