Nobody would hire him , because his father was in the penitentiary , and some people thought Jack ought to be there , too . Robert Monroe hired him -- and helped him , and kept him straight , and got him started right -- and Jack Blewitt is a hard-working , respected young man to-day , with every prospect of a useful and honorable life . There is hardly a man , woman , or child in White Sands who does n't owe something to Robert Monroe ! '' As Kathleen Bell sat down , Malcolm sprang up and held out his hands . `` Every one of us stand up and sing Auld Lang Syne , '' he cried . Everybody stood up and joined hands , but one did not sing . Robert Monroe stood erect , with a great radiance on his face and in his eyes . His reproach had been taken away ; he was crowned among his kindred with the beauty and blessing of sacred yesterdays . When the singing ceased Malcolm 's stern-faced son reached over and shook Robert 's hands . `` Uncle Rob , '' he said heartily , `` I hope that when I 'm sixty I 'll be as successful a man as you . '' `` I guess , '' said Aunt Isabel , aside to the little school teacher , as she wiped the tears from her keen old eyes , `` that there 's a kind of failure that 's the best success . '' VII . THE RETURN OF HESTER Just at dusk , that evening , I had gone upstairs and put on my muslin gown . I had been busy all day attending to the strawberry preserving -- for Mary Sloane could not be trusted with that -- and I was a little tired , and thought it was hardly worth while to change my dress , especially since there was nobody to see or care , since Hester was gone . Mary Sloane did not count . But I did it because Hester would have cared if she had been here . She always liked to see me neat and dainty . So , although I was tired and sick at heart , I put on my pale blue muslin and dressed my hair . At first I did my hair up in a way I had always liked ; but had seldom worn , because Hester had disapproved of it . It became me ; but I suddenly felt as if it were disloyal to her , so I took the puffs down again and arranged my hair in the plain , old-fashioned way she had liked .
My hair , though it had a good many gray threads in it , was thick and long and brown still ; but that did not matter -- nothing mattered since Hester was dead and I had sent Hugh Blair away XXXXX the second time .
As At although for from if on over that to