It took several days to straighten matters out around the Vernon household, and so Robert\'s proposed visit home had to be deferred until the middle of the week following.

Mrs. Vernon was truly grateful to the youth for all he had done, and did not hesitate to declare that she was going to make him her principal heir when she died.

"You did nobly, Robert," she said. "Your mother should be proud of you. No woman could have a better son."

As Frederic Vernon had disappeared, the scandal was hushed up, the detective paid off, and there the matter was allowed to drop. This was a great relief to Dr. Rushwood, who had dreaded an exposure. But exposure soon came through another so-styled patient, and the doctor had to depart in a great hurry, which he did, leaving a great number of unpaid bills behind him.

One day came a letter for Robert, which made him feel very sober. It was from his mother.

    "I wish you would come home and assist me in my money affairs," wrote Mrs. Talbot. "Mr. Talbot had asked me for more than I am willing to lend him, and lately he has taken to drink and is making me very miserable."

"The wretch!" muttered Robert, when he had finished the communication. "What a pity mother ever threw herself away on such a man. I\'ll run home this very afternoon," and receiving permission from Mrs. Vernon he hurried up and caught the first train leaving after the lunch hour.

Robert had not been to Granville for a long time, and he felt rather strange as he stepped off the train. No one was at the depot to receive him, yet he met several people that he knew.

"Why if it aint Robert Frost!" cried Sam Jones, his old school chum. "How are you getting along, Robert? But there\'s no need to ask, by the nice clothes you are wearing."

"I am doing very well, Sam," replied our hero. "And how are you faring?"

"Pretty good. I am learning the carpenter\'s trade."

"I see."

"Come home to stay?"

"No, just to see my mother."

Sam Jones\' face fell a little.

"It\'s too bad she\'s having such a hard time of it, Robert--indeed it is."

"So you know she is having a hard time?"

"Why, everybody in Granville knows it. Mr. Talbot is drinking like a fish, and using up her money fast, too, so they say."

"It\'s a shame," muttered Robert. "It\'s a wonder mother didn\'t write before."

"Going up to the house now?" continued Sam.

"Yes."

"You\'ll be in time for a jolly row. I just saw your step-father going up there, and he was about half full."

"It\'s too bad, Sam. I\'ll have to do the best I can. I wish my mother would come to Chicago and live with me."

The two boys separated, and our hero continued on his way to what had once been his happy home.

The main street of Granville was a winding one, and after running away from the railroad for a short distance, it crossed the tracks a second time and then led up a hill, on the top of which was built the Frost homestead.

As Robert approached the railroad he saw a familiar figure ahead of him, reeling from side to side of the dusty roadway. The figure was that of his step-father.

The sight filled him with disgust, and he did not know whether to stop and speak to the man or pass him by unnoticed.

While he was deliberating James Talbot reeled down to the railroad tracks, staggered, and fell headlong. He tried to rise, but the effort seemed a failure, and then he sank down in a drunken stupor.

"He is too drunk to walk any further," thought Robert. "Oh, what a beast he is making of himself! If he----"

Our hero broke off short, as the whistle of an approaching train reached his quick ears. The afternoon express was coming--along the very tracks upon which his step-father lay!

The boy\'s heart seemed to stop beating. The drunken man was unconscious of his danger--he could not help himself. Supposing he was left where he lay? There would be a rushing and crushing of heavy wheels, and then all would be over, and this man, who was not fit to live, would be removed from the Frost path forever!

This was the thought that came into Robert\'s mind, a thought born of the Evil One himself. But then came another thought, as piercing as a shaft of golden light, "Love your enemies." The boy dropped the valise he was carrying and leaped forward madly.

"Get up! get up!" he yelled, as he caught the drunken man by the arm. "Get up! The train is coming!"

"Whazzer mazzer!" hiccoughed James Talbot dreamily. "Lemme alone, I shay!"

"Get off the railroad track!" went on Robert. "The train is coming!"

"Train!" repeated the drunkard. "I--hic--don\'t shee no train."

But now the whistle sounded louder than ever, and around the turn of the hill appeared the locomotive of the express, speeding along at a rate of fifty-five miles an hour. The sight caused Robert\'s heart to thump loudly, while James Talbot gazed at the iron monster as though transfixed with terror.

"We\'re lost!" he screamed hoarsely, and then straightened out and sank back like one dead.

What happened in the next few seconds Robert could hardly tell in detail. He had a hazy recollection of catching his step-father by the leg and jerking him from the track and falling down on top of him. Man and boy rolled into a dry ditch, and as they went down the express............