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  The
  Prodigal Father

  BY

  J. STORER CLOUSTON

  AUTHOR "THE LUNATIC AT LARGE,"
  "A COUNTY FAMILY," ETC.

  New York
  The Century Co.
  1909




  Copyright, 1909, by
  J. STORER CLOUSTON

  _Published, September, 1909_

  J. F. TAPLEY CO.
  NEW YORK




     WITH GRATEFUL ACKNOWLEDGMENT TO AN UNKNOWN CORRESPONDENT WHO ONCE
     MADE A CERTAIN SUGGESTION. IF HE READS THIS STORY HE PERHAPS WILL
     REMEMBER

                                   J. S. C.




THE PRODIGAL FATHER




INTRODUCTORY


In one of the cable tramway cars which, at a reverential pace,
perambulate the city of Edinburgh, two citizens conversed. The winds
without blew gustily and filled the air with sounds like a stream in
flood, the traffic clattered noisily over the causeway, the car itself
thrummed and rattled; but the