"I wonder if I should
be as glad to see my father if he was as good to me as theirs is to
them?"

While Frank's mind was full of such thoughts, he heard a quick step at
the door, and looking up, saw the very person he had been thinking
of--his own father!

"Frank, my boy!" exclaimed Mr. March, "can it be you? Oh, Frank, I
didn't know how much I loved you until I lost you, and I have tried in
every way to find you and beg you to come home again." With these words
Mr. March stooped down and kissed his son's forehead, saying, "I
haven't kissed you since you were a baby, Frank, and I do it now as a
sign that from this time forward I will try to be a good and loving
father to you."

"Oh, father," cried the happy boy, "do you really love me? Then if you
will forgive me for running away and being such a wicked boy, I will
never, never do so again."

"Indeed I will," answered his father. "But what is the matter, Frank?
Have you been ill? How came you here?"

While Frank was giving his father a brief account of what had happened
to him since he ran away from home, the Elmers were exchanging the most
important bits of news outside the front gate. They waited there while
Mr. Elmer and Jan unhitched from a new farm-wagon a pair of fine mules
that the former had bought and driven down from Tallahassee that day.

When the children ran out to greet their father, one of the first
things Ruth said was, "Oh, we've got a new boy, father, and he's in the
sitting-room, and his name's Frank March, and an alligator almost
dragged him into the river, and Mark shot it."

Almost without waiting to hear the end of this long sentence, a
stranger who had come with Mr. Elmer opened the front gate, and quickly
walking to the house, disappeared within it.

"Who is that, husband, and what has he gone into the house for?" asked
Mrs. Elmer, in surprise.

"I don't know much about him," answered Mr. Elmer, "except that his
name is March; and as he was recommended to me as being a good
carpenter, I engaged him to come and do what work was necessary to
repair this house."

"I wonder if he is Frank's wicked father?" said Ruth; and then the
whole story had to be told to Mr. Elmer before they went into the house.

When he heard of Mark's bravery, he placed his hand on the boy's
shoulder and said, "My son, I am proud of you."

As they went in and entered the sitting-room, they found Mr. March and
Frank sitting together on the sofa, talking earnes