“What has happened? what did they do down there? No wonder you want to know all about it. Well, I went straight down to the Tombs, which is just the lonesomest pile of stones inside, that you ever set eyes on; pillars like them Sampson carried off on his shoulders, and stone rooms that chill one like graves. Well, I wandered about among them hunting up your mother and that precious boy, till I found them at last in a room full of benches with a short counter along one end, and a man sitting behind it, and there stood your mother looking stern and gray as a rock in the winter, and there was little Jimmy a standing by her with his big eyes full of tears, which he kept wiping away, for fear folks might see him cry, poor darling; and that fellow Boyce had been telling his lies, and Smith was backing him up, and things looked awful cloudy till I up and had my say, though Smith was standing there wanting to stop me, and Mr. Ross, my friend Mrs. Carter’s brother, come in and stood by your mother like a monument. But I would have my say, and I did.” “I haven’t any doubt, girls, that this speech of mine did the business; but another woman came in and finished up the whole thing. She was Jared Boyce’s brother’s wife. And they did the robbing and stealing, and hid the things in your wood-house. I wish you could have seen the scamp Boyce, when the woman told on him; he was just as gray as ashes, and all skimped up; you wouldn’t have known him—anyway, I shouldn’t; and Smith is just about the sheepiest man you ever sot eyes on, and wants me to say how awful sorry he is, which I won’t; and what a fool he has been, which I will. “There, now! Didn’t I tell you! Here they come, all in one carriage, just as good as new. Let me lift you up, Ruthy, and you can see ’em get out, Mr. Ross and all, who is a gentleman, if one ever lived. There, there!” Trembling with joy, Ruth looked out and saw Eva darting down the front walk with her arms extended. Little James leaped into them and clung to her neck, covering her face with kisses; then he made a bound into the house, and Ruth saw no more; for his arms were around her, and his voice filled the room with its sobbing gladness. Directly Eva came in clinging to her mother, who moved up the walk with her usual grave step, and put aside her bonnet and shawl before she said a word. Then she came up to Ruth, knelt by her side, and laid her head upon the cushion like one who throws down a heavy burden and longs to rest herself awhile. Gentle Ruth drew close to the old woman, and with tearful kisses, softened the stony grayness of her lips, until they began to tremble. Then her whole frame shook, and, clinging to the girl, she cried out, “Oh, God be thanked, I am home again!” in a voice that made every one in the room weep; for feelings so restrained and pent up are terrible in their force when they once break bounds.