He rose at last, and said rather stiffly:
"You mean kindly, Mrs. Arundel, and I thank you. I will think it over. Good-night."
The next day, the moral atmosphere seemed clearer. Arthur had had a little talk with Tom, and had cheered him on his way. A few words of reminder as to how happy they used to be, and that they must not let Frank's coming disturb them, had set Tom thinking; and when once he began to think, he never stopped till he had set the thoughts in order in his mind.
"Mamma," he said, looking up in her face that morning, "I've been unhappy and fretful lately, but I've found out about it now."
"Have you, darling?"
"Yes; but He restores our souls, doesn't He, mamma?"
"Indeed He does, dear; but for that we should wander away."
"Yes, and so He's brought me to still water again, mamma."
Frank Compton left them soon after this, and sadly the memory of his visit remained. A painful memory to most of them; for, guarded as they had been, the world and the world's doings had been much shut out from them, and Frank had given them a peep into its wickedness. Arthur thought with thankfulness of what might have been, had he once stepped into the deception which Frank had been leading him to, and he shuddered when he remembered how near he had been to it.
Nellie's return home was now fixed for the next week, and all longed to have her presence once more. She wrote frequent letters, detailing all her doings, and told them of the proposed picnic. But while Nellie was in danger under Orston Cliff, another danger was creeping, unsuspected, nearer and nearer to that happy circle at home.