y I done, and if you will let me come back home again I will try to
be a good brother to you. I will; honest. I won't complain no more and
I will split the kindling and everything. Please say I can come. Do
PLEASE.

Then came the appeal for money, money for the fare east. It was to be
sent to an address in San Francisco, in care of a person named Michael
Kelly.

I am staying with this Kelly man [concluded Jedediah]. He keeps a kind
of hotel like and I am doing chores for him. If you send the money right
off I will get it I guess before he fires me. Send it QUICK for the Lord
sakes.

Captain Obed finished the letter.

"Whew!" he whistled. "He's in hard luck, ain't he?"

Thankful wrung her hands. "Yes," she answered, "and I must help him
somehow. But how I'm goin' to do it just now I don't see. But I must, of
course. He's my brother and I MUST."

"Sartin you must. We--er--that is, that can be fixed all right. Humph!
He sent this to you at South Middleboro, didn't he, and 'twas forwarded.
Let's see when he wrote it. . . . Eh? Why, 'twas written two months ago!
Where in the world has it been all this time?"

"I don't know. I can't think. And he says he is in San Francisco, and
the postmark on that envelope is Omaha, Nebraska."

"Land of love, so 'tis. And the postmark date is only four days back.
Why did he hang on to the thing for two months afore he mailed it? And
how did it get to Omaha?"

"I don't know. All I can think of is that he gave the letter to somebody
else to mail and that somebody forgot it. That's all I can think of. I
can't really think of anything after a shock like this. Oh, dear! Oh,
dear! The poor, helpless, incompetent thing! He's probably starved to
death by this time and it's all my fault. I NEVER should have let him
go. What SHALL I do? Wasn't there enough without this?"

For the first time Thankful's troubles overcame her courage and
self-restraint. She put her handkerchief to her eyes.

The captain was greatly upset. He jammed his hands into his pockets,
took them out again, reached for his own handkerchief, blew his nose
violently, and began pacing up and down the room. Suddenly he seemed to
have made up his mind.

"Mrs. Barnes," he said, "I--I--"

Thankful's face was still buried in her handkerchief.

"I--I--" continued Captain Obed. "Now, now, don't do that. Don't DO it!"

Mrs. Barnes wiped her eyes.

"I won't," she said, stoutly. "I won't. I know I'm silly and childish