"Father! father! how is it I see you here?"
"John,—my dear son!" cried the old man; and they grasped each other by both hands, and seemed to search in each other's faces for answers to many questions; and then Martha took hold of her brother's arm, and he remembered her, changed as she was from the merry, rosy girl he had left her.
"Come home with me, father, and my poor Martha," said John; "and please God you shall never know want more. If I had known you were come to poverty, never would I have waited for a letter of pardon before I went home to you."
"It is all along of those dear, blessed children, that fed us when we were hungry and thirsty, and sent us on in their chaise when we were weary, that we have found you now."
John gave his little friends a look of gratitude that said more than many words; and then, all bidding good-night, they separated, the old man and Martha going home with him, and the children running to their mama to tell her all the adventures of this happy day, round their cheerful tea-table. They now understood why John was so anxious for a letter, and why he never received it, because his father had gone to London.
Next evening they went to see him, and found him at supper with his father and sister, who were dressed in nice new clothes, and looked much better and happier. They all welcomed Kate and Edward joyfully, and gave them seats, and John went into his little garden, in which he worked at his spare hours, and picked them a dish of fine ripe strawberries, which they enjoyed very much.
A week afterwards, John went to his father's village to sell off his furniture, and give up his cottage, for they had resolved to live all together in Summerton. Kate and Edward went to his house the evening he was expected home, and stood at the door watching for him, while Martha got tea ready, and her father swept up the hearth.
"Here he comes!" cried Edward, who saw him first.
"And there's a sailor-boy with him," cried Kate.
Now there was a joyful meeting. John had found his brother on the road to his father's village. His ship had come into port two days before.