Transcriber's note: Unusual and inconsistent spelling is as printed. [Illustration: "BE QUIET! OR I'LL BEAT YE INTO A JELLY!"] REUBEN ROY'S TEMPTATIONS BY EGLANTON THORNE _Author of "The Fishermen's Hero," "Nathan Quilter's Fall," etc._ London THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY 56 PATERNOSTER ROW; 65 ST. PAUL'S CHURCHYARD; AND 164 PICCADILLY. BUTLER & TANNER THE SELWOOD PRINTING WORKS FROME, AND LONDON. CONTENTS. ———— CHAP. I. REUBEN WINS RENOWN II. PARTINGS III. THE WAYS OF TOWN IV. AN ENEMY V. REUBEN SEES MORE OF OWEN GRANT VI. REUBEN HAS THRILLING EXPERIENCES VII. REUBEN'S STORY IS DISCREDITED VIII. A TIME OF TRIAL IX. THE CLOUD IS LIFTED X. A SON THAT CAUSETH SHAME XI. A CHANGE FOR KATE XII. A RETURN [Illustration] REUBEN ROY'S TEMPTATIONS. [Illustration] CHAPTER I. REUBEN WINS RENOWN. THE dwelling which Reuben Roy called his home was neither picturesque nor commodious. It was a small whitewashed cottage, boasting but four rooms, which always seemed full of children and of clothes, in a wet or dry condition as the case might be, for Reuben's mother was a laundress and worked very hard to help her husband maintain their numerous family. There was a piece of garden ground in front, but it was very untidy, for no one had time to give it any attention, save the little ones and they were not good gardeners. Yet flowers flourished there somehow in a way of their own, though, as often as not, they were smothered beneath pieces of wet linen laid out to bleach in the sun. There were few leisure moments in Reuben Roy's life. When he was not working with his father in the fields, his mother kept him busy, carrying baskets of linen to and fro, turning the mangle for her, or perhaps helping with the little ones. And Reuben was a handy lad, although some persons thought him dull and slow. If you had asked his mother about Reuben, she would have said, "Eh, he's a good lad, is Reuben. Not so sharp with his tongue, nor so quick at his books as his younger brother Robert, but a right good lad for all that." Great quantities of strawberries were grown about Ashworth, and in the spring and summer Reuben and his father were employed in the strawberry fields. As the season advanced and the fruit ripened, there was plenty to be done. Not only had the fruit to be guarded from birds and insects, but watch had to be kept by night lest it should be carried off by marauders of a larger growth.