t to."
Meanwhile Mrs. Robinson had emerged from her room after a hurried toilet.
"Sister Mollie!"
"Brother John!"
For half a minute not another word was spoken.
"I never expected to set eyes on you again," cried the sister at last, as, half crying and half laughing, she held him at arm's length for a better view. "It seemed as if you had left the world when you went to Oregon; and now you are back again,—the same old John."
"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 intf6duce 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 'II permit me to atone as best I can, Lije. That's what I 'm here for."
"Don't be too hard on him, Lijel "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
