A. L. O. E.

“ Ned took one or two rapid turns up and down the garden; then gradually slackened his pace as his anger began to cool down.
"Who am I that I should judge another?" thought the frank-hearted seaman. "Are we not all of an evil nature, our souls as full of wickedness as this wretched garden of weeds? There's nothing good grows of itself, it's all God's grace as plants it. ”

“ Bessy poured out a torrent of thanks and blessings to which no one gave heed, while Ned Franks simply replied, "I thank you, sir, kindly."
Then, turning towards the vicar, he expressed in few but heartfelt words his gratitude towards him and his lady.
"Depend upon it, Ned Franks," said Mr. Curtis, "a man who will not speak an untruth either for fear or for favour, is never likely to want a friend. He only can walk on the straight path freely, firmly, fearlessly, who keeps the Master's command in mind and wears the Girdle of Truth." ”

“ Bessy Peele grew so gracious that she not only filled her brother's wooden bowl almost to overflowing with hot bread and milk, but she examined his squirrel with interest, prescribed for its wounded leg, and filled an old basket with hay to make a bed for the sailor's new pet. The poor little creature seemed already to know its master—did not flinch from his hand, and let him warm it within his rough jacket.
"One could never harm a creature that trusted one," said Ned. "I'll nurse the squirrel till its leg is all right, and then give it its freedom again. ”

“ The sailor looked up at the sky, so blue, and clear, and transparent above him, and his heart rose, in what was earnest supplication, though he could not have put it into a regular form of prayer. He wished that his deeds, and his sayings, and those of his family, might be pure, and clear, and open as heaven's sunlight; that they might be in the sight of God what they wanted to appear in the sight of men, and be honest and true in all things, like faithful servants of the Lord.
Ned's meditations were broken in upon by Bessy Peele, who came running up towards him, with a bustling, excited air. ”

“ Bessy and Dan both started up in surprise, as Mr. Curtis and the sailor entered the cottage.
"Well, if ever! Is he cleared?" exclaimed Bessy, reading an answer at once in the beaming face of her brother.
"Yes, cleared, come off with flying colours," said the vicar; "truth has ever the victory at last."
"Why," exclaimed the wondering Dan, "here comes Sir Lacy himself, at this hour of the day!"
In bustled the knight with his flushed face and his bushy white whiskers, but looking a different man from what he had done on the previous day. ”

“ Dan, looking up with curiosity in his keen small eyes towards the stranger, whom he scarcely yet ventured to call "uncle," led the way to the back of the cottage, where was a kind of garden—if a place could deserve that name where nothing but sickly cabbages seemed to grow, with a full crop of chickweed and groundsel between. A small wood-house adjoined the cottage, and over this was a little loft, to be reached by a rough sort of ladder.
"We're to go up the hatchway, are we?" said Ned, mounting the ladder with a lightness and rapidity which surprised his nephew. ”

“ I hope that she may make you comfortable," he added.
"It's not much, sir, that I want," said the sailor: "a dry berth, a wholesome mess, and a welcome, he who gets that may be thankful, whether on sea or on shore."
"I shall call and see you," said the clergyman, kindly, "and have a little talk with you on other matters than those which concern but this passing life."
"I shall be heartily glad, sir," replied Ned, again touching his glazed hat; "it's well to have some one to teach us how to steer 'twixt the rocks and the shoals." ”

“ Ned only bowed, thinking to himself "a good deal too much."
As he did not seem inclined to be communicative, the partial mother tried to draw him out by an observation! "My son usually makes himself a great favourite wherever he goes."
Bessy nudged her brother's arm, but Ned did not speak at the hint.
Lady Barton's gloved hand closed more tightly over the little piece of gold which it hid; rather less graciously she inquired whether Mr. Barton had been quite well when the sailor had seen him last.
Ned paused for a moment before he replied. "There was nothing much the matter with his health." ”

“ Maybe the great Pilot has guided me hither that I may take Dan Peele in tow, and get him out of the shoals of deceit, and show him that it's better to sail with the wind of truth right in our canvass, than to lose way by tacking about, and split on the rocks at last."
Dan, on coming home to the cottage for dinner, found the sailor sitting by the table, with the crippled squirrel on his knee.
"Ah! I say, where did you get that?" asked the boy.
"In the woods, yester evening," answered Ned. ”

“ Ah! What I owe him," cried Bessy, heaving a long sigh, as if to express by it gratitude too deep for words. "But what I was a-going to say, ma'am, was, that I hopes as how Mr. Curtis will be good enough to put me again on the widows' list for the loaves. I've really such a hard pull to live, I don't know how we can get on without it;" and there was another long-drawn sigh.
"Ha!" thought the indignant sailor. "The gratitude was for favours to come."
"I don't see how my husband can put you on the needy widows' list," said the clergyman's quiet little wife ”

“ Ned carried it down with him when he went to breakfast in the kitchen, where he found his sister scarcely yet recovered from her fit of displeasure; but her sulkiness could not stand against the influence of his sunny good-humour.
"Come, Bessy, lass," cried the sailor, "let bygones be bygones, we'll have smooth water to-day. After I've set my cabin to rights, I'll see what's to be done in your garden; if we could only get the ground clear of weeds, it's a fine crop we might look for next year." ”

“ Curtis, courteously bending her head as the sailor respectfully rose at her entrance.
"Ah! Yes, poor fellow!" exclaimed Bessy. "He's my only brother living, and as long as I have a crust, he shall be welcome to share it. We must all care for one another, ma'am, as our good minister told us last Sunday in his beautiful sermon."
"It would be but fair," thought Ned, "if Bessy gave the lady a notion that I pay for this half-crust with the whole of my pension." ”

“ It was just about a stone's throw from the conservatory of Sir Lacy."
"A single footprint!" exclaimed the vicar.
"And so faint that I passed the place thrice before I saw it all," said the lady. "But two things at least were clear; there were nails in the boot which made the mark, as in those which our village boys wear, and the foot that wore it, was a good deal smaller than that of a tall man like Ned Franks."
"There's something in that," observed the vicar, fixing his eyes thoughtfully on the paper. "But it by no means follows that the footprint was left by the person who broke the glass." ”

“ That woman is always taking one unawares."
And, with a quickness which astonished the sailor, Bessy whisked off the dish from the table, flung an old shawl over the large piece of bacon from which the rashers had been cut, and stowed away a heap of damp linen which she had been washing into a cupboard.
"She's in a mighty hurry to tidy the room for the lady," thought Ned, "but it doesn't look a bit neater than before."
Just as Bessy had finished her hasty preparations, Mrs. Curtis, a small, delicate lady, very simply but neatly dressed, tapped at the door of the cottage, and entered. ”

“ Bessy clenched her teeth, and scowled at her brother, but the expression of anger on her face was instantly changed to one of obsequious mildness, as she caught the eye of the stately Lady Barton. If Bessy had been gratified by the visit of the vicar's wife, she was overwhelmed by the honour of one from a titled lady, and with a double number of curtsies and thanks, she shewed her two guests to the door, sending blessings after them as long as they remained within hearing. ”

“ Fearful warning to all who think lightly of the guilt of untruth!
Mr. Curtis closed the Bible. "Such a history as that which I have just read," he remarked, "needs no comment of mine. We see in it written, as with letters of fire, what falsehood is in the sight of the Lord! Now, to return to the subject on which I was speaking, I wish all here to know that a clue, though a slight one, has been discovered as to the real author of the mischief done. The footprint of a boy has been left on the sod!" ”

“ The loft was very small, with walls unpapered, and rafters uncovered; a dirty mattress lay on the dirtier floor, and a musty scent pervaded the place.
"I can't say much for the berth," thought Ned; "it's not big enough to swing a cat in, and doesn't look as if the planks had ever been holystoned. I must set things a little ship-shape. Bessy, poor soul, has enough to keep her busy with her washing ”

“ Bessy Peele looked alarmed. "I hope—I hope," she exclaimed, "that we're not agoing to get into another scrape with Lady Barton! Sir Lacy is a hard man, and never lets any one off; 'twould be a dreadful business, Ned, if you was to be sent to prison!" ”

“ Am I—wilful wayward sinner as I have been—am I to throw my own sister overboard, because she has not yet been led to see things as I see them, and to know that the straight course is the shortest course, and the only course that can land us in a safe haven at last? ”

“ Idleness would be no blessing to a fine strong lad such as you seem to be; you may have many years before you yet of good service to the Queen."
"I shall never serve the Queen again, bless her!" replied the young sailor, with a touch of sadness.
And Mr. Curtis then, for the first time, remarked that the left sleeve of Ned's blue jacket hung empty.
"But I don't look to be idle, sir," continued Franks, in a tone more cheerful, "Bessy will have my bit of a pension for the mess and the berth, and I'll see if I can't make myself useful in some way or other—go errands, or maybe try the teaching tack ”

“ We'll soon have all right and trim as a captain's cabin!"
Ned Franks was to find that other things in his new home required setting to rights as well as his loft, and that there are spots and stains harder to rub out than those on his walls and floor.
"Why don't you keep that garden in trimmer order?" asked the sailor, as he descended the ladder, followed by Dan. "You might grow enough of potatoes and cabbages in yon slip to supply your mother half the year."
"I've not a minute's time," answered Dan; "I look after Sir Lacy Barton's cows." ”

“ Ned's misfortune did not, however, appear in the least to weigh down his spirits, and he chatted merrily through dinner-time, talking over old days, and then making inquiries as to what hope there might be of his getting such employment as might suit a one-armed man. ”

“ But I was over, and after it in a minute."
"I don't know how you, managed to get over, maimed as you are," observed Bessy.
Ned Franks burst into a merry laugh. "A Jack-tar who is used to go aloft when 'tis blowing great guns, is not likely to make much of a bit of oak-fence," said he. "It was easy enough to climb over, but it was not easy to catch the squirrel; he led me a good long dance before I could clap my hand upon him."
"Then he did say right," exclaimed Dan thumping his fist on the table.
"He! What do you mean?" cried the sailor, looking at the boy with surprise. ”

“ I wanted to show him the beacon lights set in the Bible to warn us off them, that's all."
"Ah! Dan's quick enough at lying," said Bessy, with a sigh. "I can't believe a word that he says. Many and many's the time I tells him, 'Dan, with all those fine stories of yours, you'll get into trouble at last.'"
"And don't you tell him," said Ned, "that God hears, and marks down, and that 'every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the Day of Judgment'?" *
* Matt. ”

“ Weary as the sailor was, there was something which he felt to be worse than fatigue, and he walked out into the cool fresh evening air, once more to quiet his fevered spirit under the light of the pale young moon.
CHAPTER V. THE LAME SQUIRREL.
REFRESHED by a good night's rest, notwithstanding the discomforts of his new abode, Ned Franks rose on the following morning with a cheerful, thankful heart. ”

“ Paul, when telling how a Christian man should be armed to fight against the devil, bade him first be 'girt about with truth.' * Why, we couldn't so much as set a foot in the golden city without it; you've heard what's said in God's Word of that matter; outside, shut out of glory, in company with murderers and idolaters will be 'whosoever loveth and maketh a lie'! † The devil himself is the father of lies, ‡ such as make them, follow him ”

“ Thinks I, 'the village boys will hunt it to death, or 'twill fall a prey to the weasels, so I'll catch it to save its life.' Easier said than done; lame as it was, the little squirrel nearly managed to get off, squeezing itself through a hole in the fence, and so getting into the wood, or park as you call it. ”