he was, for he soon got tired of the country, and
longed for a town life. However, this he kept to himself, and made the
best of things, working hard like his brother before him.

In this way the years went on, but the crops were not so good as they
had been, and the old man gave orders that some fine houses he was
building in the city should be left unfinished, for it would take all
his savings to complete them. As to the elder son, he would never even
hear his name mentioned, and died at last without ever seeing his face,
leaving to the younger as he had promised, all his lands, as well as his
money.

* * * * *

Meanwhile, the son whom he had disinherited had grown poorer and poorer.
He and his wife were always looking out for something to do, and never
spent a penny that they could help, but luck was against them, and at
the time of his father's death they had hardly bread to eat or clothes
to cover them. If there had been only himself, he would have managed to
get on somehow, but he could not bear to watch his children becoming
weaker day by day, and swallowing his pride, at length he crossed the
mountains to his old home where his brother was living.

It was the first time for long that the two men had come face to face,
and they looked at each other in silence. Then tears rose in the eyes of
the elder, but winking them hastily away, he said:

'Brother, it is not needful that I should tell you how poor I am; you
can see that for yourself. I have not come to beg for money, but only to
ask if you will give me those unfinished houses of yours in the city,
and I will make them water-tight, so that my wife and children can live
in them, and that will save our rent. For as they are, they profit you
nothing.'

And the younger brother listened and pitied him, and gave him the houses
that he asked for, and the elder went away happy.

* * * * *

For some years things went on as they were, and then the rich brother
began to feel lonely, and thought to himself that he was getting older,
and it was time for him to be married. The wife he chose was very
wealthy, but she was also very greedy, and however much she had, she
always wanted more. She was, besides, one of those unfortunate people
who invariably fancy that the possessions of other people must be better
than their own. Many a time her poor husband regretted the day that he
had first seen her, and oft