Great was the anxiety of Edwin Jack as he walked, with light foot and fluttering heart, over the Border hills and drew near to the old home. He had not heard from his father for nearly a year. Were they all well? had they struggled out of their difficulties with the funds he had sent them. Was there no empty chair? Such and similar thoughts hurried through his mind as he went along, until he was forced to run for relief. There was a rocky ridge of land in front of him. From the top of this he knew the cottage could be seen. Panting with exertion when he gained the top, he sat down on a mass of rock and gazed at the old place till tears disturbed his vision. There it stood as of yore—no change in the general aspect of things, though there did seem one or two improvements about the cottage. But he did not gaze long. Starting up again he hurried on.

 

At last he stood in the midst of the old home-circle—all well, and, thank God, not one absent!

 

Philosopher though he was, he could not reason down the tears of joy that blinded, and the lump in his throat that well-nigh choked him. After the first wild miscellaneous embrace all round was over, Jack (or Teddie, as the home-circle called him) found relief by catching up Dobbin and burying his face in his neck and curls, regardless of the treacle with which that gentleman was plentifully besmeared.

 

“I’ve got bad news for you, Teddie, my boy,” said his father, after they had moderated a little.

 

“Nobody ill or—dead?” asked Jack, with a look of anxiety.

 

“No, nobody.”

 

“Then I’m prepared for any other kind of bad news,” said our philosopher with a quiet smile.

 

“The Blankow Bank,” said his father, laying a hand impressively on his shoulder, “has failed, and every penny of your gold is gone!”

 

The family had become very grave. Jack looked from one to the other with a bewildered air.

 

“You are jesting, father.”

 

“No, my boy; I would that it were not true. The distress that is abroad in the land because of this calamity is very great. Not only is all your fortune gone, Ted, but anything that you may have brought home with you will be taken to pay the creditors of the bank; and they require so much money that it would ruin you, though you had thousands upon thousands of pounds.”

 

A strange smile flitted across the youth’s face as he replied—

 

“What I brought home with me won’t benefit them much, for it lies with the wreck of the Rainbow at the bottom of the sea.”

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