gdom, he is no good about practical matters. So that we take all the
trouble off his hands, I think he will be quite ready to agree to do
whatever you think is the best. At any rate, mother, I think my plan is
well worth thinking over, and the sooner we make up our minds the
better; after all it is a great thing having something to look forward
to and plan about."

Three or four days later Mrs. Renshaw told Wilfrid that think as she
would she could see no better plan for utilizing her little capital than
for them to emigrate.

"It is putting great responsibility on your shoulders, my boy," she
said; "for I do not disguise from myself that it is upon you that we
must principally depend. Still you will be sixteen by the time we can
arrive there, and I think we should be able to manage. Besides, as you
say, we can hire a man or two to help, and shall have some money to fall
back upon until things begin to pay. There are plenty of women who
manage even without the assistance of a son, and I do not know why I
should not be able to get on with you and Marion to help me, especially
as farming is a comparatively simple business, in a new country. At any
rate, as you say, with two or three cows and plenty of ducks and hens,
and what we can grow on the ground, there will be no fear of our
starving."

The next day Mr. Renshaw came downstairs for the first time since he had
heard of the misfortune. He had received a letter that morning saying
that a call was at once to be made on each shareholder for the amount
still standing on each share, and this sum was in itself more than he
could meet even after the sale of his house and its contents. He was in
a state of profound depression. He had, while upstairs, been
endeavouring to think of some means of supporting his family, but had
been wholly unable to think of any plan whatever. He knew that at his
age he should find it next to impossible to obtain employment, even as
a clerk at the lowest salary; his knowledge of archaeology would be
absolutely useless to him, for the books he had already published had
not even paid the expenses of printing.

Few words were spoken at breakfast, but when the meal was finished Mrs.
Renshaw began: "My dear Alfred, Wilfrid and I have been talking over
what we had better do under the circumstances. I have told him that the
failure of the bank involves the loss of all our property, that the
house will have to be sold, and that, in fact, there remains