Page:Keeping the Peace.pdf/98

 was going to do and be, it was obvious that he had no ambition to do anything worth while or to be anything except what he was. He came and went almost without question and Mrs. Eaton managed somehow or other to keep him fairly well supplied with money. He danced well and was a great ladies' man. Men did not like him.

Mrs. Eaton possessed a thick "Family Medicine" which the children were forbidden to look at, and into which Edward during his mother's absences had managed to read as far as those diseases which begin with an M. At the time of John's visit he had dug this book out of the lower drawer in which Dear Mother kept it hidden and had taken it down to the library, where the sitting was more comfortable than in Dear Mother's room; and he had read as far as, "Mumps—First symptoms of," when suddenly he heard the front door pushed boldly open and a strong merry voice that shouted, "Ship ahoy—ship ahoy!"

Seven years had passed since Edward had seen his big brother. But he had not a moment's doubt as to the owner of that voice. He was a loving child, and as he rushed out into the hall shouting, "John! John!" his heart throbbed wildly.

"My Lord, how you've grown!" exclaimed John.

First he hugged Edward to his breast and then a