44 BACK TO MY PLACE AGAIN. 



very strange; and the women neighbours 

 were standing gossiping in a lot together. 

 I couldn't make it out, and most of all when 

 I got in and found the place as empty as an 

 egg-shell. Nobody was there, only a boy, 

 who gave me a little note and walked out 

 directly; and this is what it said, and it al- 

 most took my breath away to read it : 



" JAMES GREGORY, If you like to go 

 back to your old cottage, you are welcome to 

 do so ; and it will be your own fault if you 

 ever have to leave it again. You will find 

 your good wife and your children there. I 

 wish to see all about me happy and comfort- 

 able, and the way for you to be so is, to let 

 me be master and you be man. If you think 

 so too, go back to Bird wood again." 



I need not tell how quick I was off, and 

 how often I said, and how heartily, " Thank 

 God !" I was soon there. And what a happy 

 sight ! the window-blind just enough of one 

 side to show the old table in the old spot, all 

 laid out and ready, as if I had never moved 

 away at all ; and inside there was my sick 

 boy in his chair, and the two little girls, and 

 dicky's cage on its old nail, and every bit of 

 furniture in its place ; and the little corner 



