"Andrew! Andrew! don't speak in that manner," said the mother in a
reproving voice.

"I'll run away first!"

An indignant flush came into the lad's face as he said this.

Mrs. Howland was both startled and alarmed at this bold and
unexpected declaration, and for a time she hardly knew what to say.
At length, in a voice so changed that Andrew looked up, half
wonderingly, into her face, she said--

"My son, do you love me?"

Not until the question was repeated did Andrew make any reply. Then
he answered, in a low, unsteady voice, for something in her manner
had touched his feelings.

"You know I love you, mother; for you are the only one who loves
me."

"For the sake, then, of that love, let me ask you to do one thing,
Andrew," said Mrs. Howland.

"What is that mother?"

"Go back to your teacher, and ask him to take you into the school
again."

A flush came warmly into the boy's face, and he shook his head in a