thought as aa' sodjers kept theirsens clean."

"I'll wash right enough when I get home, mother," laughed Tom.

"Holloa, Tom. I am glad to see you," and Polly Powell made her way
through the crowd.

"Thank you," replied Tom quietly; "have you brought one of your young
men with you, Polly?"

"I have not got any young men," was Polly's reply. Whereupon there was
a general laugh of incredulity.

Polly, heedless of the crowd, and although angered at the remarks that
were made, still held her ground.

"You are coming down to the Thorn and Thistle, aren't you, Tom?" she
said; "mother and father are expecting you."

"No, thank you, Polly," said Tom. "I am going home with my mother and
father. Besides, I don't want to play gooseberry."

At this there was general cheering. It was evident that Polly Powell
was ready to give up her latest lover in order that the glory of Tom's
lustre might shine upon her; but her power over him had gone.

"Nay, thou'lt come down to the Rose and Crown wi' us, won't 'a'?" cried
another.

"No, I am not going to the Rose and Crown," replied Tom.

"Nay, you doan't mean to say you've turned teetotaler?"

"Ay, that I have," replied the lad, "you see I'm following the example
of the King." Whereupon Polly went away abashed.

All the way Tom's progress down Liverpool Road was a great procession
of people. On every hand he was greeted and cheered. Other soldiers
who had gone out from Brunford had returned; some had been wounded, and
many had done brave deeds, but Tom's action had laid hold of the
imagination of the people. To discover a German spy in Waterman, whom
many in the town knew; to bring him to justice; to risk his life in
order to render his country a service; to face almost certain death
that he might obtain the plans which had been intended to help the
enemy, made him a hero.

Perhaps there are few parts of the world where the people are more
hearty and more generous than the dwellers in those busy manufacturing
towns in the North, and Tom was their own townsboy. He had been reared
amongst them, had gone out from them, and so they gave him a great
welcome.

No words can tell the joy which Mrs. Pollard felt when she found that
Tom was going straight home with her. As she said, she had got the
best dinner in Brunford for him, but she was afraid that Tom would
yield to all the inducements which would be held out to him.

"Never mind," she said to the neighbour whom sh