At an early hour the next morning Owen left his parents' roof. The station was more than a mile distant, and they did not accompany him thither. Various home duties claimed their attention, and they were people who set duty before everything else. Owen shouldered the trunk in which his mother had packed his best suit, the garments she had made, and the socks she had knitted for him, not forgetting to find a place for his new Bible, and marched off in brave spirits. But his voice had quavered a little as he bade the "old people" good-bye. After all, there was pain in severing himself from those who loved him so dearly. As for his mother, she broke down, and sobbed when he had gone. "Oh, I wish we had not let him go," she cried. "Why could we not keep him with us?—Our only child." "Nay, nay, that would not do," said her husband; "we could not keep a lad of his talents working in the fields here. It would not be right." "I suppose not," she said, with a sigh. And for the moment, she was tempted to wish that her son was less clever, that he had been a slow, quiet lad like Reuben Roy, so that she might have kept him by her side. "It's the best thing possible for the lad," said David Grant, speaking perhaps as much to convince himself as his wife, "to get a post in that great business house. It's but the lowest rung of the ladder, to be sure. But he'll rise, for he's a smart lad. You'll be mighty proud of him, I daresay, in a few years' time." "But he's young," said his mother anxiously, "and there are so many temptations in a great city. If he should go wrong, David?" "He'll not go wrong," said his father confidently; "our lad will not go wrong. Don't you go worrying yourself without cause." "I'll not," she said, brightening up; "as you say, our lad is not like other lads. We can trust him; he'll keep right." Ah, poor, fond, trustful parents! And yet blessed is every heart that cherishes the love that "believeth all things, hopeth all things," for such love tends towards the realisation of its own prophecies. Owen Grant found quite a party of friends at the station, for Mr. Howe and his family were leaving by this train, and many persons had come to see them off. Reuben Roy had been sent with a parcel to the station, and he waited to see the last of his old superintendent, though he was too shy to go forward and bid him "good-bye" again. "Hallo, Reu, you here! Have you come to see me off, old chap?" cried Owen. "Why, no," said Reuben candidly. "I brought up a parcel for Mr. Brown, and I was waiting to see Mr. Howe start. I forgot you were going by this train." Owen looked surprised. "I told you yesterday," he observed. "I say, Reu," he exclaimed the next moment as he examined the money in his hand, "that stupid fellow in the booking office has given me too much change. The fare was one-and-nine; I gave him half a crown, and he has given me back a shilling. What an idiot!"