the stile I came over; there are the hedges I crept behind, for fear any one should overtake me and force me back! Yonder is the path across the fields, leading to the old house where I was a little child! Oh Dick, Dick, my dear old friend, if I could only see you now!’

‘You will see him soon,’ replied Rose, gently taking his folded hands between her own. ‘You shall tell him how happy you are, and how rich you have grown, and that in all your happiness you have none so great as the coming back to make him happy too.’

‘Yes, yes,’ said Oliver, ‘and we’ll — we’ll take him away from here, and have him clothed and taught, and send him to some quiet country place where he may grow strong and well, — shall we?’