A great throb of joy welled up in his throat.

His mother was right--the loneliness had overpowered his father; he still loved him, and Miss Clendenning's prediction was coming true! Not only was he willing to forgive him, but he had come himself to take him home.

He could hardly wait until his father reached his side, so eager was he to open his arms and hands and his lips in apology--and Kate!--what joy would be hers! St.George had also gained his feet.

What had brought the colonel into town, he said to himself, and in such state--and at this hour of the day, too?
Could it be that Harry was the cause?
"How were the roads, Talbot ?" he called out in his customary cheery tones.

He would start fair, anyway.
The colonel, who, head down, had been mounting the marble steps one at a time, inspecting each slab as he climbed, after the manner of men thoroughly satisfied with themselves, and who at the same time are conscious of the effect of their presence on those about them, raised his head and gazed in astonishment at the speaker.