“This is an age of progress, Mollie. The planet doesn’t seem so very big, if you know how to get around it.”
“Will you introduce the stranger, John?” asked his sister, in a welcoming tone.
“I’ve been waiting to see if he would be recognized. There is another surprise in store for you, Mollie. Did you ever see this man before?”
“Can it be possible,” she asked, her face deathly pale, “that this is my brother Joseph?”
“Yes, Mollie,” he cried, as he caught her in his arms, “I’m your long-lost brother.”
“Then I hope you’ve come prepared to pay your honest debts,” growled the brother-in-law. “I’ve wrestled with that old mortgage till I’m demnition tired!”
“I hope you’ll permit me to atone as best I can, Lije. That’s what I’m here for.”
“Don’t be too hard on him, Lije!” pleaded the sister, as she helped the prodigal to remove his overcoat. “You’re all right now, brother, aren’t you?”
“I will be as soon as I have settled some old scores with your bear of a husband.”
“Don’t mind Lije!” said his sister, aside. “His losses and obligations have made him discouraged and cross. It wasn’t natural that he should endure our hardships resignedly, as we did. Blood is thicker than water, you know. Oh, Joseph, if I only could buy for our parents a nice little farm, such as Annie deeded to her father and mother! There’s a ten-acre farm adjoining theirs; I cannot sleep for thinking about it. But my whole lifework has been devoted to Lije, and must count for nothing, so far as father and mother are concerned. Father gave me a cow and calf for a wedding present, as you will remember. They would have made me comfortable long ago if I could have kept them and one-half of their increase as mine.”