Captain Bayley at all times disliked opposition; he disliked it especially when, as in the present instance, he felt that he was in the wrong.

When they returned to their hotel the waiter informed Alice that a gentleman had called twice, while they were out, to see her. He had not left a card, saying that Miss Hardy would not know his name, but that he had a message to give her, and that he would not occupy her time more than a few minutes if she would be good enough to see him.

"It sounds quite mysterious," Alice said, smiling to her uncle.

"Was it a young gentleman or an old?" she asked the waiter in French.

"An elderly gentleman, Signora."

"Some elderly millionaire, Alice," Captain Bayley growled sarcastically, as they ascended the stairs, "who has seen you in the streets, and wishes to lay himself and his fortune at your feet."

"That must be it," Alice laughed. "But perhaps he has brought me a message from some of the many ladies we have met in our travels. I suppose I had better see him if he comes again."

"I suppose so," Captain Bayley said. "He is not likely to eat you, and as my room opens off the sitting-room, you have only to scream and I can come in to your rescue."

"Very well, I will scream, uncle, if necessary. But do you think he wants to see me alone?"

"As he has only asked for you, and no one else, I suppose he does. At any rate I have no lively curiosity as to his visit, and I don't suppose Harry has either. Most likely it's some man who wants to sell you jewellery or cameos, or to ask you for a subscription for the chaplain, or to beg of you on some pretext or other; they are always at it. He saw your name on the hotel list standing without any male protector of the same name. No doubt he thinks you are an elderly spinster with money."

"I expect it's something of that sort, Alice," Harry laughed.

But Alice insisted that she was convinced that the mysterious stranger had something important to communicate to her. As she was taking her things off there was a knock at the door, and the waiter said—

"The gentleman who before called is below."

"Show him up into our sitting-room," she said, and at once went in to receive him. "He's just coming up, uncle," she said, tapping at Captain Bayley's door. He opened it a few inches.

"I have got my pistol handy, Alice, in case you scream."

Alice laughed, and as she turned round there was a knock at the door. The waiter announced Monsieur Adams, and an elderly gentleman entered.

"You must be surprised at the intrusion of a stranger at this hour of the evening, Miss Hardy; but my excuse must be that I have for nearly two months been following your footsteps, and I was afraid that if I put off calling upon you until the morning I might find that you had gone."

"Following me for two months!" Alice repeated, in great surprise. "I do not understand, sir."

"Naturally, Miss Hardy, the statement appears a strange one to you; but the fact is I made a promise to deliver a message to you. I found upon reaching England that you had left; I obtained your address at Cairo, and went there only to find you had left a fortnight before my arrival; then I followed you to Naples, and was a week too late. At Rome I missed you by a day, and as I could not learn there, at your hotel, where you were going next, beyond the fact that you had gone North, I have been hunting for you ever since."

"But, sir," Alice said, more and more surprised, "what message could possibly be of sufficient importance for you to undertake so long a journey to deliver it?"

"I did not know how long you might be before you returned to England, Miss Hardy, and as I knew how anxiously the answer to my message would be expected, I preferred to follow you, in order that there might be no more delay than necessary."

Suddenly a thought flashed across Alice Hardy's brain. She advanced a step nearer to her visitor, and exclaimed—

"Do you come from my cousin Frank?"

"You have guessed rightly. I met him abroad; I am not at liberty at present to say where. He rendered me one of the greatest services one man can render to another—he saved my life, and did much more; but upon that it is not now necessary to enter."

"But the message, sir," Alice interrupted, "you cannot know how we have been longing for a word from him all this time."

"I do not know yet, Miss Hardy, whether I have any message to deliver; it depends upon what you say in answer to what I tell you. I think I can give you his very words as we sat together the night before I left for England: 'I have a little cousin, a girl, she was like my sister; I think, I hope, that in spite of everything she may still have believed me innocent. Will you see her, and tell her you have seen me? Say no more until you see by her manner whether she believes me to be a rascal or not.'"

"No, no," Alice broke in, with a cry, "not for one moment; surely Frank never doubted me. Never for a single instant did I believe one word against him."

"Is anything the matter, my dear?" Captain Bayley asked, opening his door, for the sound of her raised voice had reached him.

"No, uncle," she cried, hurrying to him, "it is a message from Frank. Go away a minute, or——No," and she turned again to Mr. Adams, "surely my uncle can hear too, he is as interested as I am."

"My message was to you alone, Miss Hardy," Mr. Adams said gravely; "I must deliver it as it was delivered to me. It will be for you to decide whether, after hearing it, you think it right to observe the injunction it contains for your absolute silence."

"At least tell me, sir," Captain Bayley exclaimed, as much agitated as Alice, "whether he is alive and well."

"He is alive and well, sir—at least he was when I saw him last, now nearly four months ago."

"Thank God for that, at least," Captain Bayley said fervently. "Do not be long, Alice; you know what I shall be feeling." He went back into his room again, and closed the door, and Mr. Adams continued—

"'If she thinks me a rascal, give her no clue to the part of the world where you have come across me, simply say that I wished her to know that I am alive and well.' There, Miss Hardy, my message would have ended had you not declared your faith in his innocence; I can now go on: 'If you see that she still, in spite of everything, believes that I am innocent, then tell her that I affirm on my honour and word that I am so'—Alice gave a cry of joy—'though I see no way of proving it. Tell her that I do not wish her to tell my uncle that she has heard of me; that I do not wish her to say one word to him, for, much as I value his affection, I would not for the world seem to be trying to gain the place he thinks I have forfeited, until I can appear before him as a rich man whom nothing could induce to touch one penny of his money, and who values only his good-will and esteem.'

"That is all the message, Miss Hardy. But now that I see you have never believed him guilty, I am at liberty to tell you that we met in California, and to give you an address to which you can write at Sacramento, and I can tell you the story of our acquaintance; but as the story is a long one, and it is now late, I will, with your permission, call in the morning again."

Tears were streaming down the girl's face as she lifted her head.

"Thank you, sir! oh, thank you so much! You cannot tell how happy your message has made me—how happy it will make us all, for I am sure that Frank will not blame me for breaking his injunction. He cannot tell the circumstances; he does not know that my uncle has fretted as much as myself. He evidently thinks that he believes him guilty, though why he should do so I don't know, for at first he was just as much convinced as I was of Frank's innocence, and it was only Frank's silence and his going away without saying one word in defence of himself that made him doubt him. Would you mind sitting here for a minute or two while I go in to him? We want to hear so much, if you are not in a hurry."

"I am in no hurry," Mr. Adams said, smiling. "After travelling for two months to deliver a message, one would not mind sitting up for a few hours to deliver it thoroughly; and let me tell you that if my message has made you happy, your reception of it has given me almost equal satisfaction. I should have been grieved beyond expression to have had to write to him that you doubted him, for my dear friend said, 'If your commission fails, I shall lose my last pleasant thought of home.'"

"Poor Frank!" Alice murmured, as she turned to go to her uncle's room, "how could he have ever doubted us?"

"Uncle," she said, as she entered, "I feel quite justified in telling you Frank's message to me. Why it was sent to me instead of to you I do not know, except that it seems as if he thought that I might believe him innocent, while somehow he had an idea that you thought he was guilty."

"Does he say he is innocent, Alice?" Captain Bayley broke in.

"He does, uncle; he declares on his honour and word that he is innocent."

"Thank God!" the old officer said, dropping into a chair and covering his face with his hands. For a minute he sat silent, but Alice could see how deeply he was affected.

"Don't say any more, my dear," he said, in a low, shaken voice. "I have heard quite enough; it was only Frank's assurance that I have been wanting all this time. I am content now. Thank God that this burden is lifted off one's mind. Go in and tell Harry; I should like to be alone for a few minutes."

"Yes, uncle; and Frank's friend is in the next room, and will tell us all about him when you are ready to hear it."

Harry was greatly delighted at the news, and after a few minutes Alice returned with him to the sitting-room. She knocked at her uncle's door, and called out, "We are here, uncle, when you are ready to come in." In another minute Captain Bayley entered. He went up to Mr. Adams.



"You have brought me the best news I have ever heard, sir; you cannot tell what a weight you have lifted from my shoulders, and how I feel indebted to you."

"Yes, uncle, and do you know that Mr. Adams has been travelling nearly two months to deliver the message, knowing how anxious Frank will be to hear how it was received. He went to Egypt after us, and finding we had left has been following us ever since."

"God bless you, sir!" Captain Bayley said, seizing Mr. Adams's hand and shaking it violently, "you are a friend indeed. Now in the first place, please tell me the message you have given my niece, for so far I have only heard that Frank declared that he is innocent; that was quite enough for me at first. I want to know why I was to be kept in the dark."

"The message will explain that," Mr. Adams replied, and he again repeated the message he had given Alice.

"Yes, that explains it," Captain Bayley said, when he had finished; "that's just like the boy of old. I like him for that. But why on earth did he not say he was innocent at first?"

"That I cannot tell you; I know no more of the past than the message I have given you, except he said that he had been wrongfully suspected of committing a crime, and that, although he was innocent, the case appeared absolutely conclusive against him, and that he saw no chance whatever of his being cleared, save by the confession of the person who had committed the offence."

"But why on earth didn't he say he was innocent?" Captain Bayley repeated, with something of his old irritation. "What possessed him to run away as if he were guilty without making one protest to us that he was innocent?"

"I cannot tell you, sir. As I said, I know nothing whatever of the circumstance; I do not even know the nature of the accusation against him. I only know, from my knowledge of his character, that he is a noble and generous young man, and that he never could have been guilty of any dishonourable action."

"Nobody would ever have thought he would," Captain Bayley said sharply, "unless he had as much as said so himself by running away when this ridiculous accusation was brought forward. I should as soon have doubted my own existence as supposed he had stolen a ten-pound note had he not run away instead of facing it like a man. Until he bolted without sending me a word of denial or explanation. I would have knocked any man down who had said he believed him guilty. The evidence had no more weight in my mind than the whistling of the wind; my doubts are of his own creation. Thank God they are at an end now that he has declared he is innocent. He has behaved like a fool, but there are so many fools about that there is nothing out of the way in that. Still it was one of the follies I should not have expected of Frank. That he should get into a foolish scrape from thoughtlessness, or high spirits, or devilry, or that sort of thing, I could imagine; but I am astonished that he should have committed an act of folly due to cowardice."

"I won't hear you, uncle, any more," Alice exclaimed; "I know that you don't mean anything you say, and that you are one of the happiest men in the world this evening; but of course Mr. Adams does not know you as we do, and does not understand that all this means that you are so relieved from the anxiety that you have felt for the last two years that you are obliged to give vent to your feelings somehow. Please, Mr. Adams, don't regard what my uncle says in the slightest, but tell us all about Frank. As to his going away, we know nothing about his motives, or why he went, or anything else, and I am quite sure he will be able to explain it when we see him; as to running away from cowardice, uncle knows as well as we do that the idea is simply ridiculous. So please go on, and if uncle interrupts we will go down to another sitting-room and he shall hear nothing about it."

Mr. Adams then told the story of his acquaintance with Frank; how, when all seemed dark, when he was lying prostrate with fever brought on by overexertion and insufficient food, Frank had come to his son and had insisted on helping him; how he had helped to nurse him, and how, finally, Frank and his companions had worked the claim and realised a fortune for him. He told how popular Frank was among his companions, how ready he was to do a kindly action to any one needing it, and finally repeated the conversation they had had together the last evening, and Frank's determination not to return to England until he had gained such a fortune that he could not be suspected of desiring to gain anything but his uncle's esteem when he presented himself before him and declared he was innocent.

"The young scamp," Captain Bayley growled, "thinking all the time of his own feelings and not of mine. It's nothing to him that I may be fretting myself into my grave in the belief of his guilt; nothing that I may be dead years and years before he comes home with this precious fortune he relies on making. Oh no! we are all to wait another twenty years in order that this jackanapes may not be suspected of being mercenary; three dozen at the triangles would do him a world of good, and if he were here I would——"

"You wouldn't do anything but shake his hand, and shout 'Frank, my boy, I am glad to see you back again,' so it's no use pretending that you would," Alice interrupted. "And now, Mr. Adams, it's past twelve, and I feel ashamed that we should have kept you so long; but I know you don't mind, and you have made us all very happy. You will come again in the morning, will you not? There is so much to ask about, and we have not yet even begun to tell you how deeply we are all obliged to you for your goodness in hurrying away from England directly you got home, and in spending weeks and weeks wandering about after us."

"I shall be glad to call again in the morning, Miss Hardy, but I shall start for England in the evening; I am anxious to be back now that my mission is fulfilled. My son is to be married in ten days' time, and he would like me to be present, although he said in his last letter that he quite agreed that the first thing of all was to find you and deliver the message, whether I got home or not. As I have several matters to arrange before his marriage, presents to get, or one thing or other, I shall go straight through."

"That is right," Captain Bayley said, "we will travel together, my dear sir; for of course we shall go straight back to England now. We have been dawdling about in this wretched country long enough. Besides, everything has to be arranged, and we have got to get to the bottom of this matter; so if you have no objection, we will travel home together. If the young people here want to dawdle about any longer they can do so; I dare say they can look after themselves, or if not, I can make an arrangement with some old lady or other to act as Alice's chaperon."

"You silly old man," Alice said, kissing him, "as if we were not just as anxious to get home and to get to the bottom of the thing as you are."

So the next afternoon the party started in the diligence which was to take them over the St. Gothard to Lucerne.

Alice had by this time heard, somewhat to the confusion of her ideas, that Frank was no longer the lad she had always depicted him, but a tall, powerful young man, rough and tanned by exposure, and a fair match in strength for the wildest character in the mining camp.

By the time they reached London Mr. Adams and Captain Bayley had become fast friends, and the first thing the next morning, Captain Bayley drove with Alice to Bond Street and purchased the handsomest gold watch and chain he could find as a wedding-present for young Adams, and a bracelet as handsome for Alice to send to the bride; then he sent Alice home in the carriage and proceeded to his lawyer's. He returned home in the worst of tempers. Mr. Griffith had refused to admit that the receipt of Frank's message had in any way changed the position.

"I understood all along, Captain Bayley, that your nephew, when accused by his master, had denied the theft; the mere fact that he now, three years later, repeats the denial to you, does not, so far as I can see, alter the situation in the slightest. He says that he's not in a position to disprove any of the circumstances alleged against him. Of course you are at liberty to believe him now, just as you believed him at first, and as, on mature consideration, you disbelieved him afterwards; but that is a matter quite of individual opinion. You have announced to Mr. Barkley that you intend to leave him a third of your fortune, and it would be in the highest degree unjust to make any alteration now, without a shadow of reason for doing so. Personally, no doubt, it is a satisfaction to you to have recovered your belief in Frank's innocence, but that ought not to interfere in any way with the arrangements that you have made. My own belief is, as I have told you, that, pressed for money, and afraid of expulsion were his escapade of going out at night discovered, Frank yielded to a momentary temptation—a grievous fault, but not an irreparable one—one, at any rate, for which he has been severely punished, and for which he may well be forgiven. So far I am thoroughly with you, but I cannot and will not follow you in what I consider your absolutely unfounded idea that he is innocent, and that his cousin—against whom there is not a vestige of evidence, while the proof the other way is overwhelming—is the real offender."

Whereupon Captain Bayley had returned home in a state of fury.

"But, after all, uncle," Alice said, after listening for some time to his outburst against lawyers in general, and Mr. Griffith in particular, "it really is reasonable what Mr. Griffith says. You and I and Harry, who know Frank so well, are quite sure that he is innocent; but other people who don't know him in the same way might naturally take the other view, for, as Mr. Griffith says, the proofs were strong against him, and there was nothing whatever to connect Fred Barkley with the crime. I have been talking it over with Harry since I came back, and he agrees with me that we must, as you say, get to the bottom of the whole affair before we go any further.

"Well, isn't that what we have been trying to do all along?" Captain Bayley exclaimed angrily. "How are we to get to the bottom of it? If you will tell me that I will grant that you have more sense in your head than I have ever given you credit for."

"My idea, grandfather, is this," Harry said. "We have not yet heard Frank's side of the story. I am convinced that if we heard that we should get some new light upon it; and my proposal is that you and I shall at once start for California and see Frank, and hear all about it. It seems to me that he has been silent because he has some mistaken idea that you believe in his guilt, and when you assure him that you have an absolute faith in his innocence, he will go into the whole matter, and in that case we shall probably find some clue which we can follow up and get at the truth."

"The very thing, Harry," the Captain exclaimed impetuously, "we will start by the first ship, you and I, and find this troublesome young rascal, and have it out with him."

"And I shall go too, of course, uncle," Alice Hardy exclaimed; "I am not going to be left behind by myself."

"Impossible, Alice! you don't know what the country is. You could not go wandering about up in the mountains, looking for him through all sorts of mining camps, with no decent place for a woman to sleep."

"No, uncle; but I could stay at San Francisco till you came back with him; there must be some sort of people there you could leave me with. I am sure you would not be so unkind as to leave me in England in a state of anxiety all these months. You know I enjoy the sea, and you will want somebody to look after you during the voyage, and to see that you don't get into scrapes with that dreadful temper of yours. Besides, you must have some one to scold; you could not get on without it, and you don't scold Harry half so vigorously as you do me."

And so at last it was settled, and a week later Captain Bayley, his grandson, and Alice Hardy, sailed for Panama.



CHAPTER XXI.

HAPPY MEETINGS.

FRANK was in splendid health, and his bones set rapidly. A fortnight after the encounter with the brigands he rode down to the camp on the Yuba with his arm in a sling. His attack single-handed upon the four stage-robbers had rendered him quite a noted character, and he was warmly greeted upon his arrival. As soon as he had got to the wooden shanty dignified by the name of the "hotel," a deputation waited upon him.

"We have come," the leader of the party said, "to congratulate you in the name of the hull of this mining camp on having pretty well cleared out that gang of stage-robbers. The safety of the roads air a matter of great importance to this camp, as well as to all the other camps in the State, seeing that we air obliged to pay a heavy rate of insurance on our gold being carried down, and have the risk of losing it all if we takes it down ourselves; therefore it air the opinion of this community that you have done them a considerable sarvice, and we are obliged to you."

The four members of the deputation then shook Frank solemnly by the hand.

"I can only say I am much obliged to you," Frank said, "and I only regret that one of the four got off safe. However, they had a lesson, and I hope the roads will be safer in future."

"Now," the spokesman of the deputation said, "let's liquor."

Five glasses were poured out by the bar-tender, and drunk off solemnly; this was considered to bring the ceremony to a close.

In the evening Frank was sitting around a fire with some of his acquaintances, when two persons were seen approaching.

"Can you tell me," one of them said, when he got up to the group, "whether Frank Norris is in the camp, and if so, where I can find him?"

Frank sprang to his feet with a cry of astonishment.

"Uncle," he exclaimed, "is it you, or am I dreaming?"

"My dear boy," Captain Bayley exclaimed, as he grasped Frank's hand, "thank God we have found you! We have been advertising and looking for you ever since you left, nearly three years ago."

For a minute or two they stood grasping each other's hand, their feelings being too full for further speech.

"Sit you down right here, Norris," one of the miners said, rising, "no doubt you will like a talk together, and we will leave you to yourselves."

The other miners rose, and with the real courtesy and kindness which lurked under the rough nature of the diggers, all left the spot. Captain Bayley was the first to speak.

"But here is some one else wants to shake your hand, Frank, an old friend too."

The fire was not burning very brightly, and although Frank seemed to know the young fellow who stood leaning lightly on two sticks, he could not recall where he had seen him before.

"Don't you remember me, Frank," he said, "the lad whom you took so much trouble with over his Homer."

"Harry Holl," Frank said in astonishment.

"It was as Harry Holl that you knew him, but we have since found out that he is my grandson, the son of my daughter Ella," Captain Bayley explained.

"Then you are my cousin," Frank said, advancing and shaking Harry's hand; "but how on earth have you and uncle come out here?"

"Let us sit down by the fire, Frank, for the evening is chilly, and then I will tell you all about it. But first, how about that enormous brute of a dog, who doesn't seem to have made up his mind whether the proper thing is not to devour us at once."

"Come, Turk, good dog, these are friends of mine."

Finding that the intentions of the new-comers were amicable, of which at first he had entertained some doubts, Turk threw himself down by the side of his master.

"First of all, uncle," Frank said, as he sat down, "has that affair been cleared up?"

"Well, not exactly cleared up, Frank, but we have our suspicions. Harry and I never for a moment thought it was you—that is not till you ran away instead of facing it out. I don't want to scold you now, but that was a foolish business."

"Then if you thought me innocent, uncle, why did you not answer my letter? I should never have dreamt of running away if I had not been heart-broken at the thought that you believed me guilty."

"Letter!" Captain Bayley repeated in astonishment, "what letter? That was just the thing, if you had written me only one line to say you were innocent I should never have doubted you for a moment, and even your running away would have made no difference to me."

"But I did write, uncle; I wrote to you the very first thing, telling you that I was innocent, although appearances were all against me, and saying that I could bear anything if I knew that you believed in me, and I begged you to send me just one line by hand. I waited all day for the answer, and all the evening, and when night came and no letter I felt that you believed me guilty; I became desperate, and when Fred advised me to bolt, and offered me the money to take me away, I thought I might as well go at once as go after the disgrace of being publicly expelled before the whole school."

"But I never got the letter," Captain Bayley said, "never got a line from you, and it was that which shook my faith."

"I gave the letter to Fred Barkley to post, half an hour after I came down from school, that is before eleven o'clock, and he told me he posted it at once."

"I am afraid," Captain Bayley said sternly, "that Fred Barkley is a vile young scoundrel; we have had our suspicions of him, Harry and I, and this seems to confirm them. I believe that villain is at the bottom of the whole affair. Have you ever suspected him, Frank?"

"Such an idea has flitted across my mind, uncle, but I have never allowed it to rest there; it was too shocking to believe."

"I am afraid it must be believed," Captain Bayley said. "It was Harry who first pointed it out to me that, looking at the whole case, the matter really lay between him and you, and that it was just as probable that he took the note and sent it to you as that you should have taken it and sent it to yourself. Harry urged indeed that Fred had far greater motives for doing so than you; for whereas you had only to get out of a stupid scrape, he would be playing for the money which I was to leave, which was a heavy stake. On the other hand, he admitted that the crime of stealing the note for the purpose of ruining you would be infinitely greater than the taking of money in your case.

"I have nearly worried myself into a lunatic asylum over the matter. I have been away from England for upwards of a year—partly for the sake of Harry here, who has got rid of his box long ago, and now gets along very fairly on sticks, partly to avoid seeing Fred, for as long as this thing was unsettled, it was impossible that I could give him my hand.

"My heart has all along been with you, my boy, for you know I loved you as a son; but your silence and your running away were ugly weights in the scale against you. Now that I find that that villain suppressed your letter—for he must have done so, else I should have got it—and that it was he who urged you to fly to get you out of the way, I have no longer a shadow of doubt in my mind. I must tell you that Harry here never doubted you from the first; and as for Alice, she became a veritable little fury when the possibility of your guilt was suggested. We have had some rare battles and rows over that and her absolute refusal to speak to Fred, whom from the first she insisted was at the bottom of it, though how she arrived at that conclusion, except by instinct, is more than I can tell. Her joy when Harry here was found, and of course took the position I had intended for you, and her delight in Fred's discomfiture, were, as I told her several times, absolutely indecent. Not that she minded a farthing; she is the most insubordinate young person I ever came across. You will hardly know her again, Frank, she is growing fast into a young woman, and a very pretty one too."

"But how did you find me, uncle? Was it from Mr. Adams that you heard where I was?"

"Well, Frank, we advertised for you, for over two years, in the American and Colonial papers, and at last began almost to despair.

"About two months ago, when we were in Milan—for we have been wandering about Europe for the last eight or nine months—your friend Adams found us out; the good fellow had been hunting for us for two months."

"Ah! that explains why I have not heard from him," Frank interrupted. "I have been looking for a letter for the last two months, and had begun to conclude that as he had nothing pleasant to tell me he had not written, and that I should never hear now."

"Then you thought like a young fool," Captain Bayley said angrily. "Well, as soon as Adams had given your message to Alice—and why you should have supposed that Alice should have believed in your innocence any more than me, except that women never will believe what they don't want to believe, I don't know—well, of course, she told us about it at once, and we came back to England and talked it over, and settled that the best thing was for us all to come out and see you."

"All!" Frank repeated in surprise.

"Yes, all; the headstrong young woman would not be left behind, and she is at Sacramento now, that is if she hasn't been shot by some of these red-shirted miners, or come to her end some other way. We stayed two days at San Francisco. I have wandered about a good deal, but I thought before I saw Sacramento and these places, that city was the residence of the roughest and most dangerous set of rascals I ever met.

"We travelled by coach across the plains, and on going to the bank at Sacramento found that you had been just shooting some highwaymen, and had got your arm broken by a bullet. So we put Alice in charge of the landlady of the hotel, and dared her to stir out of the room till we got back; we came on to the place where they said you were stopping, but found that you had come on here this morning. So we took our places in the coach again, and here we are; and the sooner we get away from here the better, so I hope you will be ready to start early in the morning."

"But, my dear uncle," Frank began.

"Don't give me any of your buts, sir," Captain Bayley said peremptorily. "You have been hiding too long, now you must go back and take your place again."

"But I can't clear myself of this affair."

"Don't tell me, sir," the old officer said angrily "you have cleared yourself to me, and I will take good care that the truth is known. As for that rascal Fred, I deserve all the trouble that I have gone through for being such an old fool as to let him take me in. I want to get back as quickly as possible to make my will again. Ever since Harry put the idea into my mind I have been fretting about the one I had made leaving Fred a third of my property. I thought if anything happened to me before the matter was cleared up, and I found out in the next world—where I suppose people know everything—that I had been wrong, I should have been obliged to have asked for a furlough to come back again to set it straight. Alice will be fidgeting her life out, and we must set out at once; so let us have no more nonsense about delay."

Frank offered no further resistance, and agreed to start on the following morning.

"You look more like yourself now, Frank," his uncle said, "for, except by the tones of your voice, I should hardly have known you. You must have grown ten inches bigger round the shoulders than you were, and have grown into a very big man. You don't look so big here, where there are so many burly miners about, but when you get back to London people will quite stare at you. Your face at present is tanned almost black, and that beard, which I suppose is the result of exposure, makes you look half a dozen years older than you really are. I hope you will shave it off at once, and look like a civilised English gentleman."

"I suppose I must do so," Frank said, rather ruefully, "for one never sees a beard in London, except on a foreigner. I suppose some day men will be sensible and wear them."

They sat talking until late in the night, Frank hearing all particulars of the discovery of Harry's relationship to Captain Bayley, and the news of all that had taken place since he had left England. He arranged for sleeping accommodation for them for the night in the hut of the storekeeper for whom he brought up provisions, judging that this was more comfortable and quiet for them than in the crowded and noisy plank edifice called the hotel. The next morning they started by the coach for Sacramento, Frank ordering the muleteers to follow with the animals at once. It was a twenty-four hours' drive; but it did not seem a long one to any of them, for Frank had so much to tell about his doings and adventures from the day when he last saw them, that there was scarce a pause in their talk, until at night Captain Bayley and Harry dozed in their corner of the coach, while Frank got outside and sat and smoked by the driver, being altogether too excited by the sudden arrival of his uncle, and the change in all his plans, to feel inclined for sleep. It was ten o'clock in the morning when they drove into Sacramento.

"I think, uncle, I will just go round to my house, for I keep one regularly here, and put on the garb of civilisation. Alice would not recognise me in this red shirt and high boots."

"Stuff and nonsense!" Captain Bayley said. "You had a wash-up when we breakfasted, and what do you want more? There, go up and see the girl at once, Harry and I will join you in a minute or two; according to my experience, these sort of meetings are always better without the presence of a third party," and the old officer winked at his grandson as Frank sprang up the stairs after the waiter whom Captain Bayley directed to show him to Miss Hardy's sitting-room.

Although Captain Bayley had told him that Alice had become a young woman, Frank had not realised the change that three years had produced in her. He had left her a laughing girl—a dear little girl, Frank had always thought—but scarcely pretty, and he stood for a moment in astonishment at the tall and very beautiful young woman of eighteen who stood before him. Alice was no less astonished, and for a moment could scarcely credit that this broad muscular man was her old playfellow, Frank. The pause was but momentary on both parties, and with a cry of joy and welcome the girl ran into his arms as frankly and naturally as she had done as a child.

"There, that's enough, Frank," she said presently. "You mustn't do that any more, you know, because I am grown up, and you know we are not really even cousins."

"Cousins or not, Alice," Frank said, laughing, "I have kissed you from the time you were a child, and if you suppose I am going to give it up now, when there is a real pleasure in kissing you, you are mistaken, I can tell you."

"We shall see about that, sir," the girl said; "we are in California now, among wild people, but when we get back to England we must behave like civilised beings. But, O Frank, what a monster of a dog! Is he savage? He looks as if he were going to fly at me."

For Turk, to whom greetings of this sort were entirely new, was standing at the door, his bristles half-raised, doubtful whether Alice was to be treated as a friend or foe.

"Come here, Turk. He is the best of dogs, Alice, though it is well not to put him out, for he has killed two men, one in defence of our money, the other of myself; but he is the dearest of dogs, and I will tell you some day how I found him. Come here, Turk, and give your hand to this lady, she is a very great friend of your master."

Turk gravely approached and offered his paw, which Alice took cautiously, Frank's report of his doings being by no means encouraging. Turk, satisfied now that there was no occasion for his interference, threw himself down at full length upon the hearthrug, and Alice turned to Frank.

"I am so glad you are coming home again."

"And I am glad to be coming home again," Frank said, "or rather I shall be when this matter is quite cleared up."

"I should not bother any more about it," Alice said decidedly. "Uncle Harry and I are all quite, quite sure that you had nothing to do with that horrible business, and that ought to be quite enough for you."

"It isn't quite enough, Alice," he said, "although it is a very great deal; but we need not talk about that now. Oh, here is uncle."

In the course of the day Alice heard of the new light which had been thrown on the matter by the discovery that Frank had written to protest his innocence, which letter had never come to hand, and that it was Fred who had urged Frank to fly and had supplied him with money to do so.

"I always knew he was at the bottom of it," Alice said decidedly. "I always said it was Fred. But I hope, Frank, you or uncle don't mean to take any steps to get him into trouble. I hate him, you know, and always have; still, I think he will be punished enough with the loss of the money he so wickedly tried to gain."

"I think so too, Alice; he has behaved like a scoundrel of the worst kind, but, for my part, I am quite content to leave him alone. Still, we must if possible prove that I was innocent."

"But we all know you are innocent, Frank. Uncle never would have doubted it if it had not been for the stories Fred told."

"Yes, Alice; but all the fellows at Westminster were told I was guilty. I shall be constantly meeting them in the world, and all my life this blot will hang to me if it is not set straight. When we get home I shall go back to the School and see if I cannot hit on some clue or other. Of course if Fred would confess it would be all right, but, after all, we have not a shadow of real proof against him. We have only our suspicion, and the fact that the letter did not come to hand; and if he faces it out, and declares he posted it all right, who is to gainsay him? Letters have gone wrong before now. I must clear myself if I can, but I promise you that I will not bring public disgrace upon him if it can possibly be avoided."

"He ought to be publicly disgraced," Captain Bayley roared, "the mean scoundrel, with his quiet voice and his treacherous lies. Not disgrace him? I would tie him up to a post in St. Paul's Churchyard, and hire a bellman to stand on a chair beside him and tell the story of what he has done every half-hour. Why, sir, he would have taken in St. Dunstan with his pretended hesitation to say anything to your disadvantage, and the affectation of pain with which he hinted that you had confessed your guilt to him. The scoundrel, the rascal, the hypocrite! When I think what his work has done, that you were disgraced at school, and sent wandering for three years—not that that has done you any harm, rather the contrary—to think that Alice has been wretched, and I have been on thorns and out of temper with myself and every one else for the same time, that for the last year we have been wandering about Europe like three sentimental travellers, wasting our lives, spending our money, and making fools of ourselves, I tell you, sir, if I was sitting as president of a court-martial on him, I would give him five hundred lashes, and then order him to be drummed out of the regiment."

Frank was about to speak, but Alice shook her head to him behind her uncle's back; she knew that his bark was much worse than his bite, and that, while contradiction would only render him obstinate, he would, if left alone, cool down long before the time for action arrived, and could then be coaxed into any course they might all agree upon.

The next morning the party started for San Francisco. Frank had already found a purchaser for his team of mules at a good price, had wound up all his affairs, and obtained an order from the bank on their agents in England for the amount standing to his credit, which came to seven thousand five hundred and sixty pounds.

His uncle was astounded when he heard how much Frank had earned in less than two years' work. "I shall look at these red-shirted ruffians with more respect in future, Frank; for, for aught I know, they may have tens of thousands standing to their credit at the bank."

"My luck has been exceptional, sir," Frank said. "I might dig for another fifty years without making so much. Of course, there are people who have made a good deal more in the same time, but then there are thousands who are no richer than when they began. We had done little more than keep ourselves when we went to work on Adams's claim. We had nearly four hundred apiece from him, besides what we made for our labour, for the horses pretty well kept us; then from the claim six hundred apiece. We had four thousand each out of the rich strike we made at the head of the gulch; the bank gave me two thousand more; the odd money represents the receipts of the rest of my digging and of my earnings with the mule team."

They started for Europe by the first steamer which left San Francisco for Panama, and reached home without adventure. The next morning Captain Bayley took Frank to Mr. Griffith, and told him the story as he had learned it from Frank.

"There, Griffith," he said triumphantly, when he had finished, "if you are not ready to admit that you are the most obstinate, pig-headed fellow that ever lived, I give you up altogether."

"I was wrong, I am glad to see," the lawyer said, smiling, "but I cannot admit that I was wrong as far as the evidence that was before me went; but certainly with the light our young friend has thrown upon the matter I cannot doubt that the view you took was the correct one. Still, remember there is still no actual proof such as a court of justice would go upon. Morally we may be convinced, but unless you obtain further evidence I do not think you are in a position openly to charge Fred Barkley with stealing that ten-pound note, nor do I see how you are to set about getting such evidence."

"We are going to try, anyhow," Captain Bayley said. "Frank and I are going down to Westminster to-morrow to open the investigation again, and with what we know now it is hard if we don't manage to get something."



CHAPTER XXII.

CLEARED AT LAST.

THE following day, after lunch, Captain Bayley and Frank drove round to Westminster. Football was going on in Dean's Yard, and Frank recognised among the players many faces that he knew. It seemed strange to him to think that while he had gone through so much, and had grown from a boy into a man, that they had changed so little, and had been working away regularly at the old round of Euripides and Homer, Terence and Virgil. The carriage stopped at the entrance to Dean's Yard, and, alighting, they walked across to Mr. Richards'.

Captain Bayley had written a line to the master, asking him if possible to remain at home, as he wished particularly to see him, and he and Frank were ushered straight into the master's study. He shook hands with Captain Bayley, whose acquaintance he had made while Frank had boarded with him, and then looked at Frank; for a minute he did not recognise him, then he exclaimed in surprise, "Frank Norris!"

"Yes, it's I, sir," Frank said; "I don't ask you to take my hand, for you believe me guilty of the crime of which I was accused here. I can only say now, as I said then, that I am innocent. I know now that I was a fool to run away instead of facing it out, but I was desperate, because every one thought me guilty."

"Your schoolfellows did not, Norris," Mr. Richards said. "I don't think that I did, even at first; a few hours afterwards I almost knew you were innocent, and had you not run away I could have gone far to prove it."

Frank gave an exclamation of joy, and Captain Bayley exclaimed indignantly—

"Then why did you not prove it, sir? Why did you allow my nephew to remain with the foul disgrace on his name?"

"I did not act without consideration," Mr. Richards said calmly. "Norris had gone, and I resolved if he returned again to say what I had learned; but my proofs were not absolute. We had made, it seemed to me, a terrible mistake, and I did not wish to cause ruin to another boy unless it was absolutely necessary to do so to clear Norris. Now that he has returned I can no longer hesitate; but before I begin I must ask you both whether your suspicions have fallen on any one else?"

"It is not suspicion, sir, it is certainty," Captain Bayley said; "we have no doubt whatever that the whole thing was the work of Frank's rascally cousin, Fred Barkley. He was, you know, a sort of rival of Frank for my favour, and he had reason to believe that I had determined that Frank should inherit the larger portion of my property; thus he had a motive for bringing disgrace on him. It was just as probable that he should have stolen the money and sent it to Frank as that Frank should have stolen it himself; so far it seemed to me that it might lie between either of them.

"What has settled the case in my mind is that I have learned that Fred was intrusted with a letter by Frank to me, declaring his innocence, which, as you know, I never doubted until Frank left without writing to me. That letter I never received, and I believe that it was suppressed. In the second place it was Fred who persuaded his cousin to take that ruinous step of running away, and pressed upon him money to enable him to do so, although he had refused to lend him a halfpenny when Frank required it to pay that broken-nosed tailor to hold his tongue."

"Very well," Mr. Richards said, "then I can speak freely; my silence was caused to some considerable extent by regard for your feelings. You had lost one nephew, who had gone away with a cloud of disgrace surrounding him—for aught I could tell, Norris, in his despair, might have committed suicide, or he might have so cut himself off from you that you might never have heard from him again—thus, then, I felt that it would be cruel indeed to prove that your other nephew was a villain, unless by so doing I could restore Norris to you. So, after much thought and deliberation, I determined to hold my tongue until I heard that Norris had either returned or had been heard of.

"On the morning when it was discovered that Frank had fled, I called up one by one the whole of the boys in the house. Even after his flight I could not believe that Norris had done this thing, it was so absolutely contrary to all that I knew of his disposition, and I determined to sift the matter to the bottom. From the elder boys I learned nothing, although I questioned them most closely as to everything that had taken place in the house during the past week. I was not disappointed, for I had hardly expected to learn much from them.

"It was from the four boys who were the fags of the four who had been in Frank's secret that I hoped to learn something, and I was not mistaken. From the three in the house I learned nothing; but when I came to Pearson, who was Barkley's junior and fag, I met with even more success than I had expected. At first, of course, the boy did not like to say anything; but I told him that unless he answered my questions freely I should have him up before Doctor Litter, and he then told me all he knew about it.

"The more willingly, for, like most other boys in the School, he was fond of Norris, while Barkley was by no means a kind master. He said that twice Barkley had got into a rage with him about things which didn't seem of any importance. The first occasion was a week previous. He had gone into Barkley's study to ask him to explain some difficulty in his Caesar; the door was not fastened, and as he had been working with his shoes off, Barkley did not hear him till he was close to the table. The boy noticed that he had a sheet of writing-paper before him, on which he was writing, not in his usual hand, but in printed characters. He would have thought nothing of it had not Barkley, on looking up and seeing him standing there, jumped up in a sudden rage and boxed his ears furiously, calling him a prying little sneak. The boy could not fix this to a day, but it was certainly just about the time when this letter was posted to you.

"The other affair had happened the day previously. He had gone into Barkley's room with his books on coming down from school at twelve o'clock, and seeing on his table a letter stamped and ready for the post, he supposed that as usual he was to post it, and was running downstairs with it in his hand when he met Barkley coming up. 'What have you got there?' he asked. 'I am taking your letter to the post,' he said; whereupon Barkley flew into another rage, called him an officious little beast, gave him a box in the ear, and took the letter from him. I asked the boy if he noticed to whom the letter was directed. He said he had, and that it was to you. Knowing nothing about the suppression of a letter of Norris's, and thinking that perhaps Barkley had written to his uncle about the matter, and had then changed his mind about posting it, this second affair did not strike me as having any importance whatever. The first matter, however, seemed important, for that just at the time when a letter was sent to Norris written in printing characters Barkley should have been seen writing a letter of that sort, struck me as most remarkable; and although I did not know exactly how the two lads stood in reference to yourself, it struck me at once that it was at least possible that we had been wrong, and that it was Barkley after all who took the note.

"Had I suspected for an instant that he had done it to bring disgrace upon his cousin, I should at once have communicated with Dr. Litter, and have probed the affair from the bottom; but I thought that he had taken the note with the intention of helping his cousin out of his difficulty, and that when the note was traced, and the matter became public, he had in a base and cowardly manner allowed Frank to bear the blame. This would have been bad enough in all conscience, although comparatively venial to his deliberate attempt to bring disgrace upon Norris.

"However, the matter seemed bad enough to me as it stood; but, as I said, I shrunk from causing the ruin of another young fellow unless it was necessary to clear Norris. I hesitated for a long time whether, knowing as much as I did, I ought not to take some steps in the matter; but for the reasons I have told you I determined to wait, hoping that you would soon have Norris back again, and knowing that I should hear of his return from some of the boys who were his special friends. Barkley must have seen from my manner that there was something wrong between him and me; but he never asked me the reason for the change in my manner to him, and completely ignored my coolness. It was a relief to me when the time came for his going up to the University, for I then felt that some of the responsibility was off my shoulders, and that I was no longer shirking my duty to expose him.

"That is all, Captain Bayley; but I think that this, with what you have told me, is quite sufficient to bring the guilt home to the true party, and to completely clear Norris."

"Quite sufficient," Captain Bayley said, "and I am thankful indeed that you obtained the one missing link of evidence necessary to prove Frank's innocence. I am greatly obliged to you, Mr. Richards, for the kind and thoughtful manner in which you acted, which was indeed in every way for the best; for had I at the time been made aware that Fred was the culprit, I should have gone half out of my mind at the injustice we had done Frank, and at not knowing where to find him or how to communicate with him. And now what is to be done next? I do not want this unhappy lad to be punished, but at the same time it is absolutely necessary that Frank's innocence shall be publicly proclaimed. Fred will no doubt brazen it out."

There was silence for a minute or two, and then Mr. Richards said.

"If you like, Captain Bayley, I will take the matter in hand. I will write to Barkley and tell him that Norris has now come home, and that I must therefore take up the matter at the point at which I dropped it. I will recapitulate to him the reasons that there are for supposing that he stole the money,—first, his interest in Frank's disgrace; secondly, the fact that he was seen writing a letter in printed characters on the day on which the note was sent to Norris; thirdly, his suppression of the letter to yourself; fourthly, the part he took in persuading Norris to run away; lastly, the hints which you say he gave you that Norris had confessed his guilt.

"I shall tell him I have had this interview with you; that you are thoroughly convinced of his guilt and of Norris's innocence; and that while you are determined that Norris shall be vindicated, you are desirous that his act of treacherous villainy shall not be made public; if, then, he will write a confession, saying that he took it, this confession shall not be made public.

"I shall of course show it to the Doctor, and explain the whole circumstances to him, and ask him to make a public statement in school to the boys, to the effect that it has been found out that Norris was not guilty of the act of which two years ago he was charged, and that the real thief has been discovered, but that as he is no longer at school it is unnecessary now to mention his name, and that, moreover, he has been heavily punished for the crime—which indeed is the case—by his loss of your favour and of the fortune which he looked to obtain under your will.

"I shall tell Barkley that if he refuses to confess it will be necessary, in order to clear Norris, that the affair should be investigated in a Public Court, and that Dr. Litter will at once apply for a warrant for his apprehension on the charge of theft, and that the whole matter will then be gone into in a Police Court. I cannot doubt but that he will accept the first alternative, for the second will be ruin to him."

Captain Bayley cordially assented. Three days later Frank received a letter from Dr. Litter asking him to call upon him.

"I am truly sorry, Norris," the head-master said, as he entered, "for the injustice I did you; truly and heartily sorry. The affair caused me intense pain at the time; it has been on my mind ever since. Over and over again something has told me that you were innocent; and yet, thinking the case over again, my reason has always convinced me for the time of your guilt, for I could see no other possible solution of the mystery. I am glad indeed to find that I was mistaken, and that you were a victim of a piece of what I can only term villainy. The affair will be a lesson to me for my life, and henceforth I will never allow appearances, however apparently conclusive, to weigh against a uniformly excellent character. I trust that you will forgive my terrible error."

"I don't see that you could have acted otherwise, sir," Frank said, "for even at the time, although I knew that I was innocent, I perceived that the proofs against me were so overwhelmingly strong that my guilt must appear a certainty to every one. I am happy indeed that I am cleared at last; and, after all, it has done me no harm. I have, of course, lost the University education which I looked forward to; but I think, after all, that the three years I have spent in America have in many ways done me more good than the University could have done."

"Very likely, Norris," the doctor said; "they have in every sense of the word made a man of you, and a very fine man too, and I sincerely trust that no further cloud will ever fall upon your career. And now I want you to come up School with me, for I must publicly make amends for my error, and set you right before the School."

As Frank followed Dr. Litter into the great schoolroom he felt infinitely more nervous than he had done in any of the dangers he had passed through in his journey across the plains. When the head-master was seen to enter the School accompanied by a gentleman, a silence of surprise fell upon the boys, for such an event was altogether unprecedented there. As in the stranger, who stood nearly as tall and far broader than the doctor, many of the boys in the upper forms recognised Frank Norris, a buzz ran round the School, followed again by the silence of excited expectation. Dr. Litter walked to his table at the further end of the School and then turned.

"You will all stand up," he said. "Boys," he went on, "all of you in the Fifth Form, and those above it, and some of you in the under forms, will recognise in the gentleman who stands beside me your former schoolfellow Norris; those who do will be aware of the circumstances under which he left, and will be aware that I charged him with stealing a note of the value of ten pounds from my desk. I am happy to say that it has been proved that charge was entirely false."

A sudden burst of enthusiastic cheering broke from the upper forms. Norris's innocence had been a matter of faith among his schoolfellows, and even his running away had not sufficed to shake their trust in him. They stood upon the forms and cheered until they were hoarse. At last a wave of the doctor's hand restored silence, and he went on.

"I wish now, before you all, boys, to express my deep regret to Norris, and to apologise to him most heartily for the accusation which I made. I have now in my hand the confession of the real culprit. I shall not mention his name; he has long since ceased to be among you, and I may say that he has been punished severely, though to my mind most insufficiently, for his crime, and as Norris is desirous that the matter shall be dropped, the least I can do is to give in to his wishes. And now, as I think that after this you will scarcely do any useful work this afternoon, you may as well go down at once."

A fresh roar of cheering broke out, and then the boys who had been at school with Frank jumped from their forms and crowded round him, each striving to grasp his hand, and all shouting words of welcome and congratulation.

It was some time before Frank could reply to these greetings, so shaken was he by the scene. On emerging from the schoolroom his old house-mates urged him to go up to Richards', and the Sixth were invited to accompany him. Although contrary to the usual rules, an unlimited supply of shandy-gaff was sent for, and for an hour Frank sat and chatted with his old schoolfellows, and to their great admiration gave them an outline of his adventures on the Mississippi, his journey across the plains, and as a gold-digger in California; then with a glad heart, and a feeling that he was at last cleared of the cloud which had so long hung over him, Frank returned to Eaton Square.

His path in life never afterwards crossed that of his cousin. The latter, after passing through the University with credit, entered the Bar. Somehow he was not successful there. That he was clever all allowed, but a cloud seemed to hang over him. The tale of Frank's reinstallation had gone up from Westminster to the University; his old schoolfellows there had talked the matter over, and although nothing was known for certain, somehow the belief that Barkley was the culprit spread among them.

He had never been popular, and now his old schoolfellows gradually drew aloof from him. Nothing was ever openly said. The thing was talked of in whispers, but even whispers, sometimes, are heard; and during his last year at the University Fred Barkley stood alone among his fellows. The whispers found their echo in town, and Fred Barkley found that a cloud rested on him which all his efforts were unable to dissipate. After some years of useless attempts to make his way, he was glad to accept the offer of a petty judgeship in India, and there, ten years later, he died, stabbed to the heart by a Mahomedan dacoit whom he had sentenced to a term of imprisonment.

A year after his return from America Frank married Alice. Turk, for some time after his arrival in England, had steadily declined all advances which she made to him, perceiving clearly in his heart that she was a rival in his master's affection. He had at last, however, the good sense to accept the situation; but to the end of his life, which was a long one, he never accorded her more than toleration, keeping all the affection of his great heart for his master, although in his old years he took to his master's children, and endured patiently, if not cordially, the affection which they bestowed upon him.

Frank sits in Parliament at present, as member for the county in which the broad estates which came to him with his wife are situated. It was rather a disappointment to her that he did not distinguish himself greatly in Parliament, but he was fonder of the country life of an English gentleman than of the squabbles at Westminster. He can always be depended upon to vote with his party, and he occasionally makes vigorous and indignant attacks against any policy which he believes to be lowering the prestige and position of his country; but, except upon occasions when subjects of national interest are being discussed, he is seldom to be found in the house, and his wife is now well content with his reputation as one of the best masters of fox-hounds, one of the best landlords, and one of the most popular country gentlemen in England.

Captain Bayley died but ten years ago, at a great age, and his grandson, long since able to dispense with his crutches, is one of the most prominent members in the House of Commons. He could, had he chosen, have long since had a place in the Ministry, but he declined, as it would have taken too much of his time from the favourite subject which occupies the chief part of his thoughts and life, namely the effort to ameliorate the condition of the poorer classes in the great towns.

Evan Holl is a distinguished engineer. The business of John Holl, Dust Contractor, is still carried on under that name by the children of John and Sarah, who died within a few days of each other, some twenty years since, full of happiness and contentment.

"More suitable books, especially for boys, it would be impossible to imagine. Whether of adventure, school life, or domestic interest, every story is alike marked with those wholesome and robust characteristics which form so valuable a feature in juvenile literature."—Christmas Bookseller.

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The adventures of the son of a Scotch officer in French service who had secretly married the daughter of a noble. The boy, brought up by a Glasgow bailie, is arrested for aiding a Jacobite agent, escapes in a Dutch ship, is wrecked on the French coast, reaches Paris, and serves with the French army at Dettingen. Having discovered the convent in which his mother is imprisoned, he establishes communication with her, and succeeds in obtaining through Marshal Saxe the release of both his parents. He kills his father's foe in a duel, and escaping to the coast, shares the adventures of Prince Charlie, but finally settles happily in Scotland.

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BY G. A. HENTY.

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A Tale of the Rise of the Dutch Republic. By G. A. HENTY. With 10 full-page Illustrations by MAYNARD BROWN, and 4 Maps. Crown 8vo, cloth elegant, olivine edges, $1.50.

A story covering the period when the Netherlands revolted against the attempts of Alva and the Spaniards to force upon them the Catholic religion. Mr. Henty has added a special attractiveness for boys in tracing through the historic conflict the adventures and brave deeds of an English boy in the household of the ablest man of his age—William the Silent. Edward Martin, the son of an English sea-captain, enters the service of the Prince as a volunteer, and is employed by him in many dangerous and responsible missions, in the discharge of which he passes through the great sieges of the time. He ultimately settles down as Sir Edward Martin and the husband of the lady to whom he owes his life, and whom he in turn has saved from the Council of Blood.

"Ned Martin comports himself throughout the struggle as a hero should. The story has, of course, plenty of life, and the maps and plans are excellent."—Athenaeum.

"Boys with a turn for historical research will be enchanted with the book, while the rest who only care for adventure will be students in spite of themselves."—St. James's Gazette.

CAPTAIN BAYLEY'S HEIR:

A Tale of the Gold Fields of California. By G. A. HENTY. With 12 full-page Illustrations by H. M. PAGET. Crown 8vo, cloth elegant, olivine edges, $1.50.

A frank manly lad and his cousin, who is of the plausible scheming type, are rivals in the heirship of a considerable property. The former falls into a trap laid by the latter, and while under a false accusation of theft foolishly leaves England for America. He works his passage before the mast, becomes one of the hands on a river trading-flat, joins a small band of hunters, crosses a tract of country infested with Indians to the Californian gold diggings, and is successful both as digger and trader. He acquires a small fortune, is at length proved innocent of the charge which drove him from home, and returns rich in valuable experiences.

"A Westminster boy who, like all this author's heroes, makes his way in the world by hard work, good temper, and unfailing courage. The descriptions given of life are just what a healthy intelligent lad should delight in."—St. James's Gazette.

"Mr. Henty is careful to mingle solid instruction with entertainment; and the humorous touches, especially in the sketch of John Holl, the Westminster dustman, Dickens himself could hardly have excelled."—Christian Leader.



BY G. A. HENTY.

"Mr. Henty's books for boys have long been recognized as amongst the very best things of their kind."—Court Journal.

* * * * *

THE LION OF ST. MARK.

A Tale of Venice in the Fourteenth Century. By G. A. HENTY. With 10 full-page Illustrations by GORDON BROWNE. Crown 8vo, cloth elegant, olivine edges, $1.50.

A story of Venice at a period when her strength and splendour were put to the severest tests. The hero, the son of an English trader who has taken up residence in the city, displays a fine sense and manliness which carry him safely through an atmosphere of intrigue, crime, and bloodshed. In his gondola on the canals and lagunes, and in the ships which he rises to command, he is successful in extricating his friends and himself from imminent dangers, and contributes largely to the victories of the Venetians at Porto d'Anzo and Chioggia. He is honoured by the state and finally wins the hand of the daughter of one of the chief men of Venice.

"Every boy should read The Lion of St. Mark. Mr. Henty has never produced any story more delightful, more wholesome, or more vivacious. From first to last it will be read with keen enjoyment."—Saturday Review.

"Mr. Henty has probably not published a more interesting story than The Lion of St. Mark. He has certainly not published one in which he has been at such pains to rise to the dignity of his subject."—The Academy.

THE LION OF THE NORTH.

A Tale of Gustavus Adolphus and the Wars of Religion. By G. A. HENTY. With 12 full-page Illustrations by JOHN SCHOeNBERG. Crown 8vo, cloth elegant, olivine edges, $1.50.

In this story Mr. Henty gives the history of the first part of the Thirty Years' War, a struggle unprecedented in length, in the fury with which it was carried on, and in the terrible destruction and ruin which it caused. The issue had its importance, which has extended to the present day, as it established religious freedom in Germany. The army of the chivalrous King of Sweden, the prop and maintenance of the Protestant cause, was largely composed of Scotchmen, and among these was the hero of the story. The chief interest of the tale turns on the great struggle between Gustavus and his chief opponents Wallenstein, Tilly, and Pappenheim.

"As we might expect from Mr. Henty the tale is a clever and instructive piece of history, and as boys may be trusted to read it conscientiously, they can hardly fail to be profited as well as pleased."—The Times.

"A praiseworthy attempt to interest British youth in the great deeds of the Scotch Brigade in the wars of Guatavus Adolphus. Mackay, Hepburn, and Munro live again in Mr. Henty's pages, as those deserve to live whose disciplined bands formed really the germ of the modern British army."—Athenaeum.

"A stirring story of stirring times. This book should hold a place among the classics of youthful fiction."—United Service Gazette.



BY G. A. HENTY.

"Mr. Henty's books never fail to interest boy readers."—Academy.

* * * * *

FOR THE TEMPLE:

A Tale of the Fall of Jerusalem. By G. A. HENTY. With 10 full-page Illustrations by S. J. SOLOMON: and a coloured Map. Crown 8vo, cloth elegant, olivine edges, $1.50.

Mr. Henty here weaves into the record of Josephus an admirable and attractive story. The troubles in the district of Tiberias, the march of the legions, the sieges of Jotapata, of Gamala, and of Jerusalem, form the impressive and carefully studied historic setting to the figure of the lad who passes from the vineyard to the service of Josephus, becomes the leader of a guerrilla band of patriots, fights bravely for the Temple, and after a brief term of slavery at Alexandria, returns to his Galilean home with the favour of Titus.

"Mr. Henty's graphic prose pictures of the hopeless Jewish resistance to Roman sway add another leaf to his record of the famous wars of the world."—Graphic.

"The story is told with all the force of descriptive power which has made the author's war stories so famous."—Church Times.

WITH CLIVE IN INDIA:

Or the Beginnings of an Empire. By G. A. HENTY. With 12 full-page Illustrations by GORDON BROWNE, in black and tint. Crown 8vo, cloth elegant, olivine edges, $1.50.

The period between the landing of Clive as a young writer in India and the close of his career was critical and eventful in the extreme. At its commencement the English were traders existing on sufferance of the native princes. At its close they were masters of Bengal and of the greater part of Southern India. The author has given a full and accurate account of the events of that stirring time, and battles and sieges follow each other in rapid succession, while he combines with his narrative a tale of daring and adventure, which gives a lifelike interest to the volume.

"In this book Mr. Henty has contrived to exceed himself in stirring adventures and thrilling situations. The pictures add greatly to the interest of the book."—Saturday Review.

"Among writers of stories of adventure for boys Mr. Henty stands in the very first rank, and Mr. Gordon Browne occupies a similar place with his pencil. . . . Those who know something about India will be the most ready to thank Mr. Henty for giving them this instructive volume to place in the hands of their children."—Academy.

"He has taken a period of Indian History of the most vital importance, and he has embroidered on the historical facts a story which of itself is deeply interesting. Young people assuredly will be delighted with the volume."—Scotsman.



BY G. A. HENTY.

"Surely Mr. Henty should understand boys' tastes better than any man living."—The Times.

* * * * *

THE YOUNG CARTHAGINIAN:

A Story of the Times of Hannibal. By G. A. HENTY. With 12 full-page Illustrations by C. J. STANILAND, R.I. Crown 8vo, cloth elegant, olivine edges, $1.50.

Boys reading the history of the Punic Wars have seldom a keen appreciation of the merits of the contest. That it was at first a struggle for empire, and afterwards for existence on the part of Carthage, that Hannibal was a great and skilful general, that he defeated the Romans at Trebia, Lake Trasimenus, and Cannae, and all but took Rome, represents pretty nearly the sum total of their knowledge.

To let them know more about this momentous struggle for the empire of the world Mr. Henty has written this story, which not only gives in graphic style a brilliant description of a most interesting period of history, but is a tale of exciting adventure sure to secure the interest of the reader.

"The effect of an interesting story, well constructed and vividly told, is enhanced by the picturesque quality of the scenic background. From first to last nothing stays the interest of the narrative. It bears us along as on a stream, whose current varies in direction, but never loses its force."—Saturday Review.

"Ought to be popular with boys who are not too ill instructed or too dandified to be affected by a graphic picture of the days and deeds of Hannibal."—Athenaeum.

WITH WOLFE IN CANADA:

Or, The Winning of a Continent. By G. A. HENTY. With 12 full-page Illustrations by GORDON BROWNE. Crown 8vo, cloth elegant, olivine edges, $1.50.

In the present volume Mr. Henty gives an account of the struggle between Britain and France for supremacy in the North American continent. On the issue of this war depended not only the destinies of North America, but to a large extent those of the mother countries themselves. The fall of Quebec decided that the Anglo-Saxon race should predominate in the New World; that Britain, and not France, should take the lead among the nations of Europe; and that English and American commerce, the English language, and English literature, should spread right round the globe.

"It is not only a lesson in history as instructively as it is graphically told, but also a deeply interesting and often thrilling tale of adventure and peril by flood and field."—Illustrated London News.

"A model of what a boy's story-book should be. Mr. Henty has a great power of infusing into the dead facts of history new life, and his books supply useful aids to study as well as amusement."—School Guardian.



BY G. A. HENTY.

"The brightest of all the living writers whose office it is to enchant the boys."—Christian Leader.

* * * * *

THROUGH THE FRAY:

A Story of the Luddite Riots. By G. A. HENTY. With 12 full-page Illustrations by H. M. PAGET, in black and tint. Crown 8vo, cloth elegant, olivine edges, $1.50.

The author in this story has followed the lines which he worked out so successfully in Facing Death. As in that story he shows that there are victories to be won in peaceful fields, and that steadfastness and tenacity are virtues which tell in the long run. The story is laid in Yorkshire at the commencement of the present century, when the high price of food induced by the war and the introduction of machinery drove the working-classes to desperation, and caused them to band themselves in that wide-spread organization known as the Luddite Society. There is an abundance of adventure in the tale, but its chief interest lies in the character of the hero, and the manner in which by a combination of circumstances he is put on trial for his life, but at last comes victorious "through the fray."

"Mr. Henty inspires a love and admiration for straightforwardness, truth, and courage. This is one of the best of the many good books Mr. Henty has produced, and deserves to be classed with his Facing Death."—Standard.

"The interest of the story never flags. Were we to propose a competition for the best list of novel writers for boys we have little doubt that Mr. Henty's name would stand first."—Journal of Education.

TRUE TO THE OLD FLAG:

A Tale of the American War of Independence. By G. A. HENTY. With 12 full-page Illustrations by GORDON BROWNE. Crown 8vo, cloth elegant, olivine edges, $1.50.

In this story the author has gone to the accounts of officers who took part in the conflict, and lads will find that in no war in which American and British soldiers have been engaged did they behave with greater courage and good conduct. The historical portion of the book being accompanied with numerous thrilling adventures with the redskins on the shores of Lake Huron, a story of exciting interest is interwoven with the general narrative and carried through the book.

"Does justice to the pluck and determination of the British soldiers during the unfortunate struggle against American emancipation. The son of an American loyalist, who remains true to our flag, falls among the hostile redskins in that very Huron country which has been endeared to us by the exploits of Hawkeye and Chingachgook."—The Times.

"Mr. G. A. Henty's extensive personal experience of adventures and moving incidents by flood and field, combined with a gift of picturesque narrative, make his books always welcome visitors in the home circle."—Daily News.

"Very superior in every way. The book is almost unique in its class in having illustrative maps."—Saturday Review.



BY G. A. HENTY.

"Mr. Henty is the king of story-tellers for boys."—Sword and Trowel.

* * * * *

IN FREEDOM'S CAUSE:

A Story of Wallace and Bruce. By G. A. HENTY. With 12 full-page Illustrations by GORDON BROWNE, in black and tint. Crown 8vo, cloth elegant, olivine edges, $1.50.

In this story the author relates the stirring tale of the Scottish War of Independence. The extraordinary valour and personal prowess of Wallace and Bruce rival the deeds of the mythical heroes of chivalry, and indeed at one time Wallace was ranked with these legendary personages. The researches of modern historians have shown, however, that he was a living, breathing man—and a valiant champion. The hero of the tale fought under both Wallace and Bruce, and while the strictest historical accuracy has been maintained with respect to public events, the work is full of "hairbreadth 'scapes" and wild adventure.

"Mr. Henty has broken new ground as an historical novelist. His tale is full of stirring action, and will commend itself to boys."—Athenaeum.

"It is written in the author's best style. Full of the wildest and most remarkable achievements, it is a tale of great interest, which a boy, once he has begun it, will not willingly put on one side."—The Schoolmaster.

"Scarcely anywhere have we seen in prose a more lucid and spirit-stirring description of Bannockburn than the one with which the author fittingly closes his volume."—Dumfries Standard.

UNDER DRAKE'S FLAG.

A Tale of the Spanish Main. By G. A. HENTY. Illustrated by 12 full-page Pictures by GORDON BROWNE, in black and tint. Crown 8vo, cloth elegant, olivine edges, $1.50.

A story of the days when England and Spain struggled for the supremacy of the sea, and England carried off the palm. The heroes sail as lads with Drake in the expedition in which the Pacific Ocean was first seen by an Englishman from a tree-top on the Isthmus of Panama, and in his great voyage of circumnavigation. The historical portion of the story is absolutely to be relied upon, but this, although very useful to lads, will perhaps be less attractive than the great variety of exciting adventure through which the young adventurers pass in the course of their voyages.

"A stirring book of Drake's time, and just such a book as the youth of this maritime country are likely to prize highly."—Daily Telegraph.

"Ned in the coils of the boa-constrictor is a wonderful picture. A boy must be hard to please if he wishes for anything more exciting."—Pall Mall Gazette.

"A book of adventure, where the hero meets with experience enough one would think to turn his hair gray."—Harper's Monthly Magazine.



BY G. A. HENTY.

"Mr. Henty's books for boys are always admirable."—Birmingham Post.

* * * * *

ONE OF THE 28TH:

A Tale of Waterloo. By G. A. HENTY. With 8 full-page Illustrations by W. H. OVEREND, and 2 Maps. Crown 8vo, cloth elegant, olivine edges, $1.50.

Herbert Penfold, being desirous of benefiting the daughter of an intimate friend, and Ralph Conway, the son of a lady to whom he had once been engaged, draws up a will dividing his property between them. At his death the authorized search for the will fails to bring it to light. The mother of Ralph, however, succeeds in entering the house as a servant, and after an arduous and exciting search secures the will. In the meantime, her son has himself passed through a series of adventures. He enters the army, and after some rough service in Ireland, takes part in the Waterloo campaign, from which he returns with the loss of an arm, but with a substantial fortune.

"Written with Homeric vigour and heroic inspiration. It is graphic, picturesque, and dramatically effective . . . shows us Mr. Henty at his best and brightest."—Observer.

"One of the 28th contains one of the best descriptions of the various battles which raged round Waterloo which it has ever been our fate to read."—Daily Telegraph.

THE CAT OF BUBASTES:

A Story of Ancient Egypt. By G. A. HENTY. With 8 full-page Illustrations by J. R. WEGUELIN. Crown 8vo, cloth elegant, olivine edges, $1.50.

In availing himself of the pictured records of Egyptian life and history, Mr. Henty has produced a story which will give young readers an unsurpassed insight into the customs of one of the greatest of the ancient peoples. Amuba, a prince of the Rebu nation on the shores of the Caspian, is carried with his charioteer Jethro into slavery. They become inmates of the house of Ameres, the Egyptian high-priest, and are happy in his service until the priest's son accidentally kills the sacred cat of Bubastes. In an outburst of popular fury Ameres is killed, and it rests with Jethro and Amuba to secure the escape of the high-priest's son and daughter. After many dangers they succeed in crossing the desert to the Red Sea, and eventually making their way to the Caspian.

"The story is highly enjoyable. We have pictures of Egyptian domestic life, of sport, of religious ceremonial, and of other things which may still be seen vividly portrayed by the brush of Egyptian artists."—The Spectator.

"The story, from the critical moment of the killing of the sacred cat to the perilous exodus into Asia with which it closes, is very skilfully constructed and full of exciting adventures. It is admirably illustrated."—Saturday Review.



BY G. A. HENTY.

"Mr. Henty is one of our most successful writers of historical tales."—Scotsman.

* * * * *

IN THE REIGN OF TERROR:

The Adventures of a Westminster Boy. By G. A. HENTY. With 8 full-page Illustrations by J. SCHOeNBERG. Crown 8vo, cloth elegant, olivine edges, $1.50.

Harry Sandwith, a Westminster boy, becomes a resident at the chateau of a French marquis, and after various adventures accompanies the family to Paris at the crisis of the Revolution. Imprisonment and death reduce their number, and the hero finds himself beset by perils with the three young daughters of the house in his charge. The stress of trial brings out in him all the best English qualities of pluck and endurance, and after hair-breadth escapes they reach Nantes. There the girls are condemned to death in the coffin-ships Les Noyades, but are saved by the unfailing courage of their boy-protector.

"Harry Sandwith, the Westminster boy, may fairly be said to beat Mr. Henty's record. His adventures will delight boys by the audacity and peril they depict. . . . The story is one of Mr. Henty's best."—Saturday Review.

"The interest of this story of the Reign of Terror lies in the way in which the difficulties and perils Harry has to encounter bring out the heroic and steadfast qualities of a brave nature. Again and again the last extremity seems to have been reached, but his unfailing courage triumphs over all. It is an admirable boy's book."—Birmingham Post.

ST. GEORGE FOR ENGLAND:

A Tale of Cressy and Poitiers. By G. A. HENTY. With 8 full-page Illustrations by GORDON BROWNE, in black and tint. Crown 8vo, cloth elegant, $1.50.

No portion of English history is more crowded with great events than that of the reign of Edward III. Cressy and Poitiers laid France prostrate at the feet of England; the Spanish fleet was dispersed and destroyed by a naval battle as remarkable in its incidents as was that which broke up the Armada in the time of Elizabeth. Europe was ravaged by the dreadful plague known as the Black Death, and France was the scene of the terrible peasant rising called the Jacquerie. All these stirring events are treated by the author in St. George for England. The hero of the story, although of good family, begins life as a London apprentice, but after countless adventures and perils, becomes by valour and good conduct the squire, and at last the trusted friend of the Black Prince.

"Mr. Henty has developed for himself a type of historical novel for boys which bids fair to supplement, on their behalf, the historical labours of Sir Walter Scott in the land of fiction."—Standard.

"Mr. Henty as a boy's story-teller stands in the very foremost rank. With plenty of scope to work upon he has produced a strong story at once instructive and entertaining."—Glasgow Herald.



BY G. A. HENTY.

"Mr. Henty is the prince of story-tellers for boys."—Sheffield Independent.

* * * * *

A FINAL RECKONING:

A Tale of Bush Life in Australia. By G. A. HENTY. With 8 full-page Illustrations by W. B. WOLLEN. Crown 8vo, cloth elegant, olivine edges, $1.50.

In this book Mr. Henty has again left the battlefields of history and has written a story of adventure in Australia in the early days of its settlement.

The hero, a young English lad, after rather a stormy boyhood, emigrates to Australia, and gets employment as an officer in the mounted police.

A few years of active work on the frontier, where he has many a brush with both natives and bush-rangers, gain him promotion to a captaincy, and he eventually settles down to the peaceful life of a squatter.

"Mr. Henty has never published a more readable, a more carefully constructed, or a better written story than this."—Spectator.

"Exhibits Mr. Henty's talent as a story-teller at his best. . . . The drawings possess the uncommon merit of really illustrating the text."—Saturday Review.

"All boys will read this story with eager and unflagging interest. The episodes are in Mr. Henty's very best vein—graphic, exciting, realistic; and, as in all Mr. Henty's books, the tendency is to the formation of an honourable, manly, and even heroic character."—Birmingham Post.

THE BRAVEST OF THE BRAVE:

Or, With Peterborough in Spain. By G. A. HENTY. With 8 full-page Illustrations by H. M. PAGET. Crown 8vo, cloth elegant, $1.50.

There are few great leaders whose lives and actions have so completely fallen into oblivion as those of the Earl of Peterborough. This is largely due to the fact that they were overshadowed by the glory and successes of Marlborough. His career as General extended over little more than a year, and yet, in that time, he showed a genius for warfare which has never been surpassed, and performed feats of daring worthy of the leaders of chivalry.

"Mr. Henty has done good service in endeavouring to redeem from oblivion the name of the great soldier, Charles Mordaunt, Earl of Peterborough. The young recruit, Jack Stilwell, worthily earns his commission and tells his tale with spirit."—Athenaeum.

"Mr. Henty never loses sight of the moral purpose of his work—to enforce the doctrine of courage and truth, mercy and loving kindness, as indispensable to the making of a gentleman. Lads will read The Bravest of the Brave with pleasure and profit; of that we are quite sure."—Daily Telegraph.

"In describing the brief, brilliant, most extraordinary campaigns of this chivalric and picturesque commander Mr. Henty is in his element, and the boy who does not follow the animated and graphic narrative with rapture must sadly lack spirit and pluck."—Civil Service Gazette.



BY G. A. HENTY.

"Among writers of stories of adventure for boys Mr. Henty stands in the very first rank."—Academy.

* * * * *

FOR NAME AND FAME:

Or, Through Afghan Passes. By G. A. HENTY. With 8 full-page Illustrations by GORDON BROWNE, in black and tint. Crown 8vo, cloth elegant, $1.50.

This is an interesting story of the last war in Afghanistan. The hero, after being wrecked and going through many stirring adventures among the Malays, finds his way to Calcutta, and enlists in a regiment proceeding to join the army at the Afghan passes. He accompanies the force under General Roberts to the Peiwar Kotal, is wounded, taken prisoner, and carried to Cabul, whence he is transferred to Candahar, and takes part in the final defeat of the army of Ayoub Khan.

"Mr. Henty's pen is never more effectively employed than when he is describing incidents of warfare. The best feature of the book—apart from the interest of its scenes of adventure—is its honest effort to do justice to the patriotism of the Afghan people."—Daily News.

"Here we have not only a rousing story, replete with all the varied forms of excitement of a campaign, but an instructive history of a recent war, and, what is still more useful, an account of a territory and its inhabitants which must for a long time possess a supreme interest for Englishmen, as being the key to our Indian Empire."—Glasgow Herald.

BY SHEER PLUCK:

A Tale of the Ashanti War. By G. A. HENTY. With 8 full-page Illustrations by GORDON BROWNE, in black and tint. Crown 8vo, cloth elegant, $1.50.

The Ashanti Campaign seems but an event of yesterday, but it happened when the generation now rising up were too young to have made themselves acquainted with its incidents. The author has woven, in a tale of thrilling interest, all the details of the campaign, of which he was himself a witness. His hero, after many exciting adventures in the interior, finds himself at Coomassie just before the outbreak of the war, is detained a prisoner by the king, is sent down with the army which invaded the British Protectorate, escapes, and accompanies the English expedition on their march to Coomassie.

"Mr. Henty keeps up his reputation as a writer of boys' stories. 'By Sheer Pluck' will be eagerly read."—Athenaeum.

"The book is one which will not only sustain, but add to Mr. Henty's reputation."—The Standard.

"Written with a simple directness, force, and purity of style worthy of Defoe. Morally, the book is everything that could be desired, setting before the boys a bright and bracing ideal of the English gentleman."—Christian Leader.



BY G. A. HENTY.

"Mr. Henty's books are always welcome visitors in the home circle."—Daily News.

* * * * *

FACING DEATH:

Or the Hero of the Vaughan Pit. A Tale of the Coal Mines. By G. A. HENTY. With 8 full-page Illustrations by GORDON BROWNE, in black and tint. Crown 8vo, cloth elegant, $1.50.

"Facing Death" is a story with a purpose. It is intended to show that a lad who makes up his mind firmly and resolutely that he will rise in life, and who is prepared to face toil and ridicule and hardship to carry out his determination, is sure to succeed. The hero of the story is a typical British boy, dogged, earnest, generous, and though "shamefaced" to a degree, is ready to face death in the discharge of duty. His is a character for imitation by boys in every station.

"The tale is well written and well illustrated, and there is much reality in the characters."—Athenaeum.

"If any father, godfather, clergyman, or schoolmaster is on the look-out for a good book to give as a present to a boy who is worth his salt, this is the book we would recommend."—Standard.

ORANGE AND GREEN:

A Tale of the Boyne and Limerick. By G. A. HENTY. With 8 full-page Illustrations by GORDON BROWNE. Crown 8vo, cloth elegant, olivine edges, $1.50.

The history of Ireland has assumed such immediate interest that Mr. Henty's fictional treatment of one of its important crises will be welcomed by all who desire that the young should realize vividly the sources of many of its troubles. The story is the record of two typical families—the Davenants, who, having come over with Strongbow, had allied themselves in feeling to the original inhabitants; and the Whitefoots, who had been placed by Cromwell over certain domains of the Davenants. In the children the spirit of contention has given place to friendship, and though they take opposite sides in the struggle between James and William, their good-will and mutual service are never interrupted, and in the end the Davenants come happily to their own again.