The cash boy and his mother lived in a westside tenement house.

Just in front of the house, Scott met Willie Mead with a loaf of bread which he was bringing home from a neighboring bakery. His eye lighted up with pleasure when he saw Scott.

"Do you live here, Willie?" asked Scott.

"Yes, we live on the fourth floor."

"I have brought a gentleman with me who may be able to help your mother. We will follow you upstairs."

"You may not like to climb so high, sir," said the cash boy, turning to Mr. Lawton.

"I think I can stand it for once," rejoined Seth Lawton. "I am a little more scant of breath than when I was a young man, but I am still good for a climb."

Willie started ahead and the two visitors followed him.

[Pg 117]

"We will stop here on the landing till you have told your mother she is to have visitors," said Seth, considerately.

The boy opened a door and entered a rear room. He reappeared in a short time, and said: "Come in, please."

The room was neat, but the scanty and well-worn furniture showed evidences of dire poverty.

Mrs. Mead, a woman of forty, though poorly dressed, had a look of refinement, though her face was sad and anxious.

As she watched the entrance of the visitors her eyes seemed riveted upon Seth Lawton. She took a step forward.

"Surely," she said, "I cannot be deceived. This is Seth Lawton."

"You know me?" said Seth, in amazement.

"Yes, and you ought to know me. We were born in the same village."

"Mary Grant!" ejaculated Seth, after a brief scrutiny.

"That was my name. Now I am Mary Mead. I married, but my husband is dead. But sit down. It does me good to see an old friend."

"It seems incredible," said Seth, as he took the proffered seat. "We met last in England, and now[Pg 118] again under strange and unexpected circumstances." Seth Lawton seemed moved, but his tone was one of satisfaction.

"Yes, Seth, much has happened since we parted."

"How long have you lived in America?"

"Ten years."

"And when did your husband die?"

"Three years since. He left me nothing but the children, and it has been a sad and sorrowful time. We have lived, but there have been times when we have been on the verge of starvation. And you, how has it been with you?"

"I have no right to complain. I have lived comfortably. You know Ezra Little?"

"Yes, it was at my request that he took Willie into his store. But the two dollars and a half a week, which he pays him, seems very small."

"I should think so. Didn\'t he know how poor you were?" asked Seth, indignantly.

"Yes, but he said he could not favor one cash boy more than the rest."

"Then he might have made you a present."

"I don\'t think it ever occurred to him, Seth. But how did you find me? Did he give you my address?"

[Pg 119]

"No, that was not likely. Scott Walton—you must have known his mother, my cousin Lucy—works in the same store. It was he who heard of your trouble and reported it to me. Now tell me how you are situated."

"We are likely to be turned out of these poor rooms, because we cannot pay the rent. My eldest boy, Sam, has been sick, and as he earned six dollars a week, it took most of our income from us. Next week I think he will be able to go to work again."

"This is a poor place for you, Mary."

"We are glad of even this shelter. We are too poor to be particular."

"Your income consists only of what the two boys earn?"

"I earn something by sewing, but I have no sewing machine, and the prices paid are very low. Still, every little helps."

"If you had a whole house and kept lodgers, you could make a better income."

"No doubt, and I think I could do it if I had the means. But with no capital, that is out of the question," she finished, with a sigh.

"I have a proposal to make to you. I have a room in a house on West Sixteenth Street. It is a[Pg 120] moderate sized house, and is to let furnished. My present landlady is desirous of giving up the house, as she wishes to be with her mother in the country, but she is tied by a lease. Suppose you take it off her hands?"

"I should like nothing better, but you can judge whether an offer from one so poor as myself would be accepted."

"Don\'t trouble yourself about that," said Seth Lawton, quietly. "I will arrange it all, and will retain my room. I may say that the rooms are all taken, so that you would be sure of an income at once."

"I should like the arrangement very much, and I sh............