Finally all had eaten all they could, and the remainder of the
plum pudding was carried out. Robert gave a low sigh of relief.
It was almost over. Soon he would be able to escape and hide
himself and his shame away from the mirthful eyes of these men
and women who had earned the right to laugh at the world in which
their success gave them power and influence. He--he--only--was
a failure.

He wondered impatiently why Mrs. James did not rise. Mrs. James
merely leaned comfortably back in her chair, with the righteous
expression of one who has done her duty by her fellow creatures'
palates, and looked at Malcolm.

Malcolm rose in his place. Silence fell on the company;
everybody looked suddenly alert and expectant, except Robert. He
still sat with bowed head, wrapped in his own bitterness.

"I have been told that I must lead off," said Malcolm, "because I
am supposed to possess the gift of gab. But, if I do, I am not
going to use it for any rhetorical effect to-day. Simple,
earnest words must express the deepest feelings of the heart in
doing justice to its own. Brothers and sisters, we meet to-day
under our own roof-tree, surrounded by the benedictions of the
past years. Perhaps invisible guests are here--the spirits of
those who founded this home and whose work on earth has long been
finished. It is not amiss to hope that this is so and our family
circle made indeed complete. To each one of us who are here in
visible bodily presence some measure of success has fallen; but
only one of us has been supremely successful in the only things
that really count--the things that count for eternity as well as