there
is a place for her here in her old home still."

"Oh, thank you, thank you, dear father," cried Amos; "you _have_ made me
glad!"

"Yes," continued the squire, "tell her that from me; yet, of course,
that does not include _him_."

"Oh no! I thoroughly understand that," replied his son; "and I see, of
course, many difficulties that lie in the way; but still, I believe that
brighter and happier days are coming for us all."

"May it be so, my dear boy," said the other, again drawing him closely
to him. "It will not be _your_ fault, at any rate, if they do not
come."

So that morning Amos left on his work of love.

He had not been gone many minutes, when Walter knocked at his aunt's
door. "Aunt Kate," he began, when he had seated himself at her feet, "I
want your advice about a little scheme of mine. It's a good scheme, and
perhaps a little bit of moral courage on my part will come out of it."

"Well, my dear boy, let me hear it."

"Father, I know, has been talking to you about Amos," he went on; "all
about his noble and self-denying conduct towards my poor dear sister,
and that he is going, in consequence of that horrid letter, to see her
and those children of hers. I gather this partly from a few words I had
with Amos before he started. But then, nobody knows where Julia lives,
and nobody knows what that scamp of a fellow may be up to against my
dear good brother."

"Yes, Walter," said his aunt, "I understand all that; and I must say
that I feel a little anxious about your brother, though I know that he
is in better hands than ours."

"Well, auntie, shall I tell you what I have thought of?"

"Do, dear boy."

"If father will let me, I should like to go and keep guard over Amos
till he comes back."

"But how can you do that?" asked Miss Huntingdon. "You said just now
that no one knows where your poor sister lives except Amos himself; and
it would hardly do for you to overtake him, if that could be done, and
join yourself to him whether he would or no."

"No, Aunt Kate, that is not my idea. Now, though nobody but Amos knows
where Julia lives, I think I know."

"What do you mean?" asked the other, laughing.

"Why, just this. I don't know properly. I'm not supposed to know, and
so I take it for granted that I don't know; and yet really I believe I
do know."

"My boy, you speak in riddles."

"Ah yes, Aunt Kate, I do; and I see you will never guess the answers to
them, so you must give up