for her Jim would have run away, but he was very fond of his mother.
He was the chief object of her interest and affection since his
sisters had married and left home. She laughingly declared that Jim
could make her do anything, and certainly he brought about many
improvements. She received good-naturedly his hints that Mrs. Howard
did this, or that at the Hazeltines' things were done so. He could not
desert her now that she had no one else to depend on.

Two dreadful days passed slowly, a number of his friends called to
inquire, and left kind messages, for he would not see them. He spent
his time strolling aimlessly through the handsome house, occasionally
going in to see his mother. He was very gentle to her, though he found
her lamentations hard to bear.

Late in the afternoon of the second day he sat in his room, trying to
read. He was quite worn out with anxiety and loss of sleep, and was
half-dozing, when his attention was attracted by a gleam of sunshine
reflected in something on the table beside him. It was the little
silver key. The words of the motto stared him in the face: "They
Helped." How much it recalled to him--such pleasant companionships,
and some real effort to be kind and useful! Was he going to fail now?
Perhaps this was his great opportunity. If _he_ did not help, who
would?

He stood up before the mirror, stretching himself to his full
height,--a tall, broad-shouldered young fellow.

"Many a boy younger than I takes care of himself, and so can I, and of
my mother too," and wide awake now he sat down to think.

On the table lay a note from Mrs. Howard, which he had only half read.
He took it up now, and the warm affection it expressed, and the
confidence that he would bear his trouble bravely, stirred his
manliness--he would not disappoint her. "I have been a coward," he
said, and with the same prompt decision which had surprised his
companions on that Halloween so long ago he turned his back on his
pride and useless regrets and became a man. When his father's brother
arrived that night Jim met him, saw to his comfort, explained all he
knew about the trouble, and asked such intelligent questions, with
such an evident determination to help himself, that his uncle was
greatly pleased.

There were weeks of anxious nursing while Mr. Carter hung between life
and death, and his son, strong and gentle, made himself most useful in
the sick-room. When at last the once sturdy, ambitious man struggled