g
anyway.

Such thoughts and reflections as these kept Evan interested until the
brakeman shouted "Hometon next!" Then a lofty and exulting happiness
took the place of interest. He looked on the approaching spires and
humble cupolas of his home town with an expression possibly similar to
that of an eagle in flight over a settlement of earthy creatures. He
felt a sudden loyalty for Mt. Alban, and suspected that it would be
part of his professionalism to maintain the honor of his business-town
in Hometon.

The bankclerk straightened his back and marched down the aisle of the
train. Alfred Castle and the interest table seemed a thousand miles
away. Two happy faces smiled at him from the station platform.
Frankie Arling and Sister Lou ran up to him.

"Gee, but isn't he a sport?" said Lou, sweeping him in from tip to toe,
and addressing herself to her companion.

"Yes, indeed," laughed Frankie, taking his raincoat from his arm, and
throwing it over her own. Lou seized his suitcase.

He submitted to the hold-up with a kind of dignity; looked about him
with the air of a tourist; and paid less attention to the questions of
the girls than he might have done.

"The old town's just the same," he soliloquized aloud.

Lou was speaking to a passer-by and did not hear the remark. Frankie
had been paying better attention. She smiled and looked into his face
coyly.

"Does it seem so very long since you left, Evan?"

"Well--I don't know, Frank." He regarded her critically. Lou was
attending now.

"I expected to find you with a moustache," she said.

The remark fitted so well into Frankie's thoughts it amused her very
much. Both girls laughed to each other without restraint. In fact,
they were not very sedate for the main street of Hometon.

Mrs. Nelson had the house as clean and cheerful as mother and a
summer's day can make a home. She sat on the front verandah with the
material for a pair of pyjamas on her white-aproned lap. Long before
the three youngsters were within hailing distance she waved the light
flannelette above her head.

Evan's kiss made the mother blush. There never had been much
demonstration of affection in the family: there had been no excuse for
it. But now matters were different. Evan, too, was a trifle
embarrassed.

"Well, I like that," said Lou; "he never kissed me, mother!"

He caught his sister and bestowed a gentle bite on her cheek; she
squirmed and would not let him away w