h, if you must take one of us, to take
me. I have had a long drive, and many comforts and blessings, and am
willing, if unworthy, to go. He has suffered much, and had no pleasure;
leave him for a little to enjoy the drive in peace, just for a very
little; he has suffered so much, and I have been so much to blame; let
me go instead of him.'

"Poor Melchior! In vain he laid both his hands in Death's outstretched
palm; they fell to him again as if they had passed through air; he was
pushed aside--Death passed into the coach--'one was taken and the other
left.'

"As the cloaked figure glided in and out among the crowd, many turned
to look at his sad burden, though few heeded him. Much was said; but the
general voice of the crowd was this: 'Ah! he is gone, is he? Well! a
born rascal! It must be a great relief to his brother!' A conclusion
which was about as wise, and about as near the truth, as the world's
conclusions generally are. As for Melchior, he neither saw the figure
nor heard the crowd, for he had fallen senseless among the cushions.

"When he came to his senses, he found himself lying still upon his face;
and so bitter was his loneliness and grief, that he lay still and did
not move. He was astonished, however, by the (as it seemed to him)
unusual silence. The noise of the carriage had been deafening, and now
there was not a sound. Was he deaf? or had the crowd gone? He opened his
eyes. Was he blind? or had the night come? He sat right up, and shook
himself, and looked again. The crowd was gone; so, for matter of that,
was the coach; and so was Godfather Time. He had not been lying among
cushions, but among pillows; he was not in any vehicle of any kind, but
in bed. The room was dark, and very still; but through the 'barracks'
window, which had no blind, he saw the winter sun pushing through the
mist, like a red-hot cannon-ball hanging in the frosty trees; and in
the yard outside, the cocks were crowing.

"There was no longer any doubt that he was safe in his old home; but
where were his brothers and sisters? With a beating heart he crept to
the other end of the bed; and there lay the prodigal, with no haggard
cheeks or sunken eyes, no gray locks or miserable rags, but a rosy,
yellow-haired urchin fast asleep, with his head upon his arm. 'I took
his pillow,' muttered Melchior, self-reproachfully.

"A few minutes later, young Hop-o'-my-thumb, (whom Melchior dared not
lose sight of for fear he should melt away,)