you a bit behind the scenes; so he would come before you, not as the heir of an eccentric old gentleman, with a good estate and plenty of money to speak for him, but as the travelled artist and music-master. And now, I think I've pretty well unravelled the greater part of the tangle; the rest you can easily smooth out for yourselves. "So you see it has been `nearly lost, but dearly won.' My child, Mary, you nearly lost old Esau's heart, when you seemed bent on throwing your own away; but you've won it, and won it dearly, like a dear good child. You nearly lost your peace to one who would soon have drowned it out of home, but you won it dearly and bravely, I know, at no little sacrifice. And John, my son, I once thought you'd nearly lost the noblest and best of wives; but you've won her, and dearly, too, but she's worth the price of a little stooping, ay, and of a great deal too. And old Esau Tankardew nearly lost his peace and his self-respect, in selfish unsanctified sorrow, but he has won something better than respect, though it cost him a hard struggle; he has won a daughter who hates that drink which blotted out light and joy from the old man's home and heart; and he has won, through grace, a peace that passeth understanding, and can say, `Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.'" THE END. End of Project Gutenberg's Nearly Lost but Dearly Won, by Theodore P. Wilson