ck.

"That'll do!" said Miss Beswick, silencing him with a gesture. "Reuben
will give you twenty marbles; for I believe you said they was Reuben's
bonds, Mr. Ducklow?"

"Yes, that is"----stammered the adopted father.

"Eventooally," struck in the adopted mother.

"Now look here! What am I to understand? Be they Reuben's bonds, or be
they not? That's the question!" And there was that in Miss Beswick's
look which said, "If they are not Reuben's, then your eyes shall never
behold them more!"

"Of course they're Reuben's!" "We intended all the while"----"His
benefit"----"To do jest what he pleases with 'em," chorused Pa and Ma
Ducklow.

"Wal! now it's understood! Here, Reuben, are your cowpon bonds!"

And Miss Beswick, drawing them from her bosom, placed the precious
documents, with formal politeness, in the glad soldier's agitated hands.

"Glory!" cried Reuben, assuring himself that they were genuine and real.
"Sophrony, you've got a home! Ruby, Carrie, you've got a home! Miss
Beswick! you angel from the skies! order a bushel and a half of marbles
for Dick, and have the bill sent to me! Oh, Pa Ducklow! you never did a
nobler or more generous thing in your life. These will lift the
mortgage, and leave me a nest-egg besides. Then when I get my back pay,
and my pension, and my health again, we shall be independent."

And the soldier, overcome by his feelings, sank back in the arms of his
wife.

"We always told you we'd do well by ye, you remember?" said the
Ducklows, triumphantly.

The news went abroad. Again congratulations poured in upon the returned
volunteer. Everybody rejoiced in his good fortune,--especially certain
rich ones who had been dreading to see Miss Beswick come round with her
proposed subscription-paper.

Among the rest, the Ducklows rejoiced not the least; for selfishness was
with them, as it is with many, rather a thing of habit than a fault of
the heart. The catastrophe of the bonds broke up that life-long habit,
and revealed good hearts underneath. The consciousness of having done an
act of justice, although by accident, proved very sweet to them: it was
really a fresh sensation; and Reuben and his dear little family, saved
from ruin and distress, happy, thankful, glad, was a sight to their old
eyes such as they had never witnessed before. Not gold itself, in any
quantity, at the highest premium, could have given them so much
satisfaction; and as for coupon bonds, they are not to be mention