s quiet way, enjoyed the visit equally. He went very
often to sea in the yacht with Jan and Snorro, and, in the happy
intercourse with them, the long days were short ones to him. He saw
the full fruition of his faith and charity, and was satisfied.

Fortunately, after this event Jan was never very long away at one
time. Until the Russian war he made short cruises in the African seas,
and Snorro had many opportunities of realizing the joy of liberating
the slave, and punishing the oppressor. In the toil and suffering of
the Crimea, Jan and Snorro bore their part bravely. Jan had charge of
a naval brigade formed of contingents from the ships of the allied
fleets. No men did a greater variety of duties or behaved more
gallantly than these blue jackets on shore. They dragged the heavy
guns from their ships, and they fought in the batteries. They carried
the scaling ladders in assaults. They landed the stores. They
cheerfully worked as common laborers on that famous road between
Balaclava and Sebastopol, for they knew that on its completion
depended the lives of the brave men famishing and dying on the
heights.

But after many happy, busy years, Jan came home one day and found only
Margaret to welcome him. His son Jan was commanding his own vessel in
Australian waters; his son Peter was in the East Indies. His
daughters' homes were far apart, Margaret, with fast silvering hair,
and the heavy step of advancing years, longed greatly for the solace
and strength of his constant presence; and Jan confessed that he was a
little weary of the toil, and even of the glory of his life.

The fact once admitted, the desire for retirement grew with its
discussion. In a little while Jan and Snorro returned to Shetland for
the evening of their lives. They had been twenty years away, but
Lerwick was very little changed. The old world had not been invaded by
the new one. Here and there the busy spirit of the age had left a
finger-mark; no more. The changes were mostly those which under any
circumstances would have come. Doctor Balloch had finished his work,
and gone to his reward. Peter's store was in another name, but Peter,
though a very old man, was bright and hale, and quite able to take an
almost childlike interest in all Jan's plans and amusements.

At first Jan thought of occupying himself with building a fine new
house; but after he had been a week in Shetland, his ambitious project
seemed almost ridiculous. He noticed also that M