n took place by yours."

"I know that too well," sighed poor Matty; "but Folly rushed straight
into your home, blazing away like a rocket, then rushed out again, but
not before she had set your curtains on fire."

"Do you mean that all my furniture is burned!" exclaimed Dick, striking
his fist with violence upon a table that was near him.

"Burned to a cinder," replied Matty; "there's scarcely anything left but
the grates."

"The carpet--the splendid carpet destroyed too?" cried poor Dick,
starting upright on his feet.

"Great holes burned in every part, and all the dates as black as
charcoal!"

Dick sank back on his seat with a groan.

"The beautifully papered walls," continued Matty, "not fit to be looked
at now; the fine furniture-facts mere charred wood, or little heaps of
gray ashes!"

"And mother coming back the day after to-morrow!" exclaimed Dick, with a
burst of anguish. "And doubtless Mr. Learning will come with her,
bringing the crown of Success for which I have laboured so hard! I must
go at once to the town," he cried wildly; "I must work, work hard till
they appear!" And springing from his chair he made an effort to walk;
but the limbs, once so active and strong, would no longer support his
weight, and, overcome with vexation, Dick tottered back into his seat.

"I can't do it," he cried; "I can't go! Oh, misery and disappointment!
Leave me, Matty, leave me; remain no longer with a wretched boy who has
lost everything that he valued!"

Matty was frightened at the vehement storm of passion which her
indiscretion had raised; and being quite unable to speak a word of
comfort to her brother, she crept out of the cottage, feeling more
unhappy than when she had entered it.

CHAPTER XXVII.

A BRAVE EFFORT.

"Oh! why should this be--why should this be?" groaned Dick, as soon as
he found himself alone; "why should I, the genius of the family,
suddenly find myself reduced to the state of the veriest dunce? Why
should one wretched accident take from me more than Matty lost by
Forgetfulness, or Lubin by Procrastination? Why should I have a cottage
so ruined and empty--I who had made its furniture my glory--I who had
worked so hard and so well?"

It is a wise thing for those in trouble to try and search for the reason
of their trials. No sorrow is sent without a cause. Dick sat long with
his brow leaning on his hand, thinking, and thinking, and seeking as
well as his poor, languid mind would l