There was a neat two-story house standing² on the principal street in Cedarville, with a pleasant lawn in front, through which, from the gate, a gravelled walk ran to the front door. Mr. Brandon, as I have already said, was a coal-dealer, and in very comfortable circumstances; so that Ben had never known what it was to want anything which he really needed. He was a man of great firmness, and at times severity, and more than once Ben had felt aggrieved³ by his treatment of him. Mrs. Brandon was quite different from her husband, being gentle and kind, and[Pg 138] it was to her that Ben always went for sympathy, in any trouble or difficulty, whether at home or at school.

 

Mrs. Brandon was sitting at the window with her work in her hand; but it had fallen listlessly in her lap, and on her face was a look of painful preoccupation. Opposite her sat her daughter Mary, Ben's only sister, already referred to.

 

"Don't worry so, mother," said Mary; "you will make yourself sick."

 

"I cannot help it, Mary," said Mrs. Brandon. "I can't help worrying about Ben. He has been gone a week now, and Heaven knows what he has suffered. He may be dead."

 

"No, mother," said Mary, who had more of her father's strength than her mother's gentleness. "He is not dead, you may depend upon that."

 

"But he had no money, that I know of. How could he live?"

 

"Ben can take care of himself better than most boys of his age."

 

"But think of a boy of ten going out in the world by himself!"[Pg 139]

 

"There are many boys of ten who have to do it, mother."

 

"What could the poor boy do?"

 

"He might suffer a little; but if he does, he will the sooner come home."

 

"I wish he might," said Mrs. Brandon, with a sigh. "I think your father does very wrong not to go after him."

 

"He wouldn't know where to go. Besides, he has advertised."

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