Milly Frank’s joy at finding her relatives, of whose existence her father had never told her, was only equaled by the joy of Adoniram and Frances Pepper themselves in recovering their “little sister” again—for as such Milly appears to them.
Miss Frances is of course Miss Frances no longer; but with her husband, she still occupies her brother’s house in New York, and Milly dwells with them.
Brandon, who is at present in the naval school, resides there also during vacation, and calls the company of assorted humanity there gathered “the happy family.”
Swivel is in the West—that land of bracing and salubrious climate—for after he recovered from the accident he sustained on the wreck, the doctors told him that he could never live and be strong in the East again. So, with the assistance of Caleb, Adoniram, and Brandon, who quarreled not a little as to who should do the most for him, he was sent West, and a glorious start in business life was given him in that rapidly growing country.
Brandon himself, though made independently rich by the sale of the diamonds found by Anson Tarr, loves the sea too well to give it up altogether, and, as I said, is in the naval academy at Annapolis. When he is through school and gets his appointment, he and Milly may—but I won’t anticipate.
As for the disappointed Uncle Arad, he never pressed the matter of Brandon’s arrest after the failure of the plot (hatched up by himself and Messrs. Leroyd and Weeks) to convert his nephew’s property to his own use. He still remains on the farm at Chopmist, and by report is as crabbed and stingy as ever; but Brandon has had no desire to return to the farm since his Quest of the Silver Swan was ended.
THE END
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES:
Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.
Inconsistencies in hyphenation have been standardized.