ye.

"I'm sure he's a much finer and handsomer young man than you were when I
married you, father!" said the old lady with spirit.

"Oh, of course!" chuckled Mr Hexton; "he's lovely! Phil, boy, pray use
scented soap and plenty of pomatum."

"Come, father, let's set aside joking for the time," said Philip
quietly. "I'm very glad to get home again, and to find my mother so
proud and happy to have me back--and you, too, sir."

Mr Hexton nodded, and changed his position a little.

"You want to know what I mean to settle to be, sir?"

"Yes, my boy; I should like to know."

"Well, father, I'll tell you, for I have thought of it long and deeply,
and I have studied chemistry a good deal for that end."

"Bravo, Phil!" said Mr Hexton. "A doctor, mother; I thought as much."

"No, sir, not a doctor; though I think a medical man's a grand
profession, and one only yet in its infancy. But I want to be of some
use, father, in my career. I want to save life as a medical man does.
You know the old saying, father?"

"About getting the wrong pig by the ear, as I did?"

"No, sir; about prevention being better than cure."

"Yes, my boy; but what are you going to prevent instead of cure?"

"I want to prevent so much loss of life in our coal-pits, father."

"Oh, my boy, my boy," cried Mrs Hexton passionately; "don't say you
want to take up your father's life!"

"Why not, mother dear?" said the young man firmly; "would it not be a
good and a useful life, to devote one's self to the better management of
our mines--to studying nature's forces, and the best way of fighting
them for the saving of life?"

"But, my boy, my boy, think of the risks!"

"I didn't spend hundreds on your education to have you take to a pit
life," growled Mr Hexton.

"Oh, my boy, it is such a dangerous life. The hours of misery we pass
no one knows," cried Mrs Hexton, wringing her hands.

"Mother," said the young man, "it is to endeavour to save mothers and
wives and children from suffering all these pains; for I would strive to
make our mines so safe that the men could win the coal almost without
risk. And as for education, father," he said proudly, as he turned to
the stern, grey, disappointed man, "is it not by knowledge that we are
able to battle with ignorance and prejudice? Don't regret what you have
given me, father."

"But it seems all thrown away if you are going to be nothing better than
overseer of a mine."

"Oh, no," said the yo