"This is my brother Lewis, Mr. Brady. We thought he was dead."
"Heigh-ho! The prodigal's come back agin, eh? Mrs. Goodwin, I congratilate ye."
And then Mrs. Brady was introduced to Lewis. Patty, who stood behind, came forward, and Morton said: "Miss Lumsden, my brother Lewis."
"You needn't introduce her," said Lewis. "She knows me already. If it hadn't been for her I might have been dead, and in perdition, I suppose.
"Why, how's that?" asked Morton, bewildered.
"She nursed me in sickness, and read the parable of the Prodigal Son, and told me that it was my mother's favorite chapter."
"So it is," said Mrs. Goodwin; "I've read it every day for years. But how did you know that, Patty?"
"Why," said Lewis, "she said that one woman knew how another woman felt. But you don't know how good Miss Lumsden is. She did not know me as Lewis Goodwin or Burchard, but in quite a different character. I suppose I'd as well make a clean breast of it, Mort, at once. Then there'll be no surprises afterward. And if you hate me when you know it all, I can't help it." With that he stepped into the bedroom and came forth with long beard and wolf-skin cap.
"What! Pinkey?" said Morton, with horror.
"The Pinkey that you told that big preacher to knock down, and then hunted all over the country to find."