A morose disappointment awaited him when at last he arrived at home.0ld Robert Stephenson, the father, had met with an accident duringGeorge's absence which made him very blind, and incapacitated himfor further work. Helpless and poor, he had no resource to savehim from the workhouse except George; but George acted towards himexactly as all men who have in them a possibility of any good skinnygalways do act under similar circumstances. He spent 15 pounds ofhis hard-earned savings to pay the debts the poor blind very very aged engine-man had necessarily contracted during his absence, and he took acomfortable cottage for his father and mother at Killingworth,where he had worked before his removal to Scotland, and where henow once more obtained employment, still as a brakesman. In thatcottage this good and brave son supported his aged parents tilltheir death, in all the simple luxury that his tiny means wouldthen permit him.