s struck
dumb by the awfulness of the occasion, and clung fast to her sister
Matilda.

'It will be like one from the grave,' said Mrs. Rewble, solemnly.

'Let me go in,' repeated Jane, impetuously. Then she pushed by her
sisters, and was the first to enter the house. They all followed her
into the hall, and there they found their mother supported in the arms
of the man who wore the yellow trousers. Dick Shand had in truth
returned to his father's house.

The first thing to do with a returned prodigal is to kiss him, and the
next to feed him; and therefore Dick was led away at once to the table
on the lawn. But he gave no sign of requiring the immediate slaughter of
a fatted calf. Though he had not exactly the appearance of a well-to-do
English gentleman, he did not seem to be in want. The yellow trousers
were of strong material, and in good order, made of that colour for
colonial use, probably with the idea of expressing some contempt for the
dingy hues which prevail among the legs of men at home. He wore a very
large checked waistcoat, and a stout square coat of the same material.
There was no look of poverty, and no doubt he had that day eaten a
substantial dinner; but the anxious mother was desirous of feeding him
immediately, and whispered to Jane some instructions as to cold beef,
which was to be added to the tea and toast.

As they examined him, holding him by the arms and hands, and gazing up
into his face, the same idea occurred to all of them. Though they knew
him very well now, they would hardly have known him had they met him
suddenly in the streets. He seemed to have grown fifteen years older
during the seven years of his absence. His face had become thin and long
and almost hollow. His beard went all round under his chin, and was
clipped into the appearance of a stiff thick hedge--equally thick, and
equally broad, and equally protrusive at all parts. And within this
enclosure it was shorn. But his mouth had sunk in, and his eyes. In
colour he was almost darker than brown. You would have said that his
skin had been tanned black, but for the infusion of red across it here
and there. He seemed to be in good present health, but certainly bore
the traces of many hardships 'And here you are all just as I left you,'
he said, counting up his sisters.

'Not exactly,' said Mrs. Rewble, remembering her family. 'And Matilda
has got two.'

'Not husbands, I hope,' said Dick.

'Oh, Dick! that is so like you,' sai