man," continued her husband. "He might
perhaps live with us. I know you have more than enough to do now," he
added, answering her look of dismay, "but he would be a great help to
Hughie with his lessons, and might start him in his classics. And then,
who knows what you might make of the young man."

Mrs. Murray did not respond to her husband's smile, but only replied,
"I am sure I wish I knew what is the matter with the boy, and I wish he
could leave school for a while."

"O, the boy is all right," said her husband, impatiently. "Only a little
less noisy, as far as I can see."

"No, he is not the same," replied his wife. "He is different to me."
There was almost a cry of pain in her voice.

"Now, now, don't imagine things. Boys are full of notions at Hughie's
age. He may need a change, but that is all."

With this the mother tried to quiet the tumult of anxious fear and pain
she found rising in her heart, but long after the house was still, and
while both her boy and his father lay asleep, she kept pouring forth
that ancient sacrifice of self-effacing love before the feet of God.

CHAPTER IX

HUGHIE'S EMANCIPATION

Hughie rose late next morning, and the hurry and rush of getting off to
school in time left him no opportunity to get rid of the little packages
in his pocket, that seemed to burn and sting him through his clothes. He
determined to keep them safe in his pocket all day and put them back in
the drawer at night. His mother's face, white with her long watching,
and sad and anxious in spite of its brave smile, filled him with such
an agony of remorse that, hurrying through his breakfast, he snatched a
farewell kiss, and then tore away down the lane lest he should be forced
to confess all his terrible secret.

The first person who met him in the school-yard was Foxy.

"Have you got that?" was his salutation.

A sudden fury possessed Hughie.

"Yes, you red-headed, sneaking fox," he answered, "and I hope it will
bring you the curse of luck, anyway."

Foxy hurried him cautiously behind the school, with difficulty
concealing his delight while Hughie unrolled his little bundles and
counted out the quarters and dimes and half dimes into his hand.

"There's a dollar, and there's a quarter, and--and--there's another," he
added, desperately, "and God may kill me on the spot if I give you any
more!"

"All right, Hughie," said Foxy, soothingly, putting the money into his
pocket. "You needn't be so mad