ur they came. Mrs. Weston welcomed her guests, and among
them the stranger.

"I don't know you, sir, but you are welcome to my poor cottage," said
she, with a courtesy.

"Thank you, ma'am. I have just come from California. I believe you had
a son who went out there."

"I did. Poor George! I suppose he is dead," answered the widow, wiping
a tear from her eye.

"I come to tell you about him, ma'am."

"Then he is dead!"

"No; he is alive and well."

"Heaven bless you for the news!" ejaculated the poor woman.

It was indeed a day of gladness to her.

"He is coming home soon."

"I am glad to hear it. Where has he been?"

"He has been at the mines."

"I haven't heard a word from him since he first reached San Francisco."

"He has written several times; but the means of communication with San
Francisco and the diggings were very uncertain. I suppose his letters
miscarried."

"But tell me about him. Has his health been good?"

"Very good; and he has been remarkably lucky. Folks say he has made
over a hundred thousand dollars digging and trading."

"Indeed! I am so glad!"

"I suppose you don't remember me, do you?" asked the stranger.

The widow looked at him sharply.

"You have got such a sight of hair on your face, that I declare I do
not," said the widow, laughing.

"You don't?"

The gentleman spoke these words in a different tone of voice--so
different that the widow started back in astonishment.

"Have I altered so much, mother?"

"George! O George!" exclaimed the widow, as she folded her lost son in
her arms.

They both wept in each other's embrace.

"Heaven be praised, you have returned!" cried the widow.

"And my father is dead?" said George Weston sadly.

"Yes, George, you have no father now."

The young man trembled with emotion.

"I had hoped to smooth the last years of his life; but God's will be
done."

"Amen!" said the widow solemnly, as she wiped her eyes.

"Tony, my brother, come here," said George, as he shook the hand of the
little hero. "You cannot think how badly I felt this morning, when, on
my arrival at Rippleton, I heard that you were to be tried for
stealing. If it had not been for our mother, I think I should have fled
from the place without making myself known."

"But, George, I was innocent."

"I know it, Tony; and I was the happiest man in the court-house when I
heard that Joe Braman confess the truth."

"And, George," interrupted Mrs. Weston, "you must