r is it?" broke in Dalton, angrily.

"Yes, papa; remember that poor Frank is still in the ranks."

"Well, God give me patience with you all!" burst out the old man, in
a torrent of passion. "Does he know that he's a Dalton?--does he feel
blood in his veins? Why the blazes must he seek out a thieving blaguard
with a pack full of damaged cambric to make a friend of? Is this the way
the family's getting up in the world?"

"Adolf Brawer, by name," read on Nelly, in a low and subdued
voice. "You will be surprised when I tell you that I owe all
his kindness and good-nature to you,--yes, to your own dear
self. On his way through the Tyrol he had bought two wooden
statuettes,--one a young soldier asleep beside a well; the
other a girl leaning from a window to hear the bugles of a
departing regiment Can you guess whose they were? And when
he came to know that I was the brother of the little N. D.
that was sculptured, half hid in a corner, and that I was
the original of the tired, wayworn recruit on the roadside,
I thought he would have cried with enthusiasm."

"Didn't I often say it?" broke in Dalton, as, wringing his hands in
despair, he paced the room with hasty strides. "Did n't I warn you a
thousand times about them blasted images, and tell you that, sooner or
later, it would get about who made them? Didn't I caution you about the
disgrace you 'd bring on us? The fear of this was over me this many a
day. I had it like a dream on my mind, and I used to say to myself, 'It
will all come out yet.'" #

Nelly covered her face with her apron as these bitter words were spoken;
but not a syllable, nor a sigh, did she reply to them; still, the frail
garment shook with an emotion that showed how intensely she suffered.

"A Virgin sold here, an Angel Gabriel there; now it was Hamlet; another
time Gotz with the iron hand. All the balderdash that ever came into
your head scattered over the world to bring shame on us! And then to
think of Kate!"

"Yes, dearest father, do think of her," cried Nelly, passionately. "She
is, indeed, an honor and a credit to you."

"And so might you have been, too, Nelly," rejoined he, half sorry for
his burst of anger. "I 'm sure I never made any difference between you.
I treated you all alike, God knows." And truly, if an indiscriminating
selfishness could plead for him, the apology was admirable.

"Yes, papa, but Nature was less generous," said