Scott opened the letter, which proved to be brief. It was dated at the Sherman House, Chicago, and ran thus:

    "I am called away suddenly on business, and may be absent for a month. Should you need to consult me on any subject, direct to me here, as letters will be forwarded if I am absent from the city.

    Cousin Seth."

Scott showed the letter to Mr. Wood.

"I shall be glad to make the acquaintance of Mr. Lawton," said Justin. "He is evidently a good friend of yours."

"If he were here now he might get me a place. I don\'t stand much chance myself."

"I must see if I can\'t find some temporary work for you to do. Suppose we take an ice cream. Do you know any good place near by?"

[Pg 168]

"There is one on Sixth Avenue."

"Very well, we will go there."

Scott led the way to the place already referred to, frequented by his cousin, Loammi. When they entered, Scott saw Loammi seated at a table in the rear part of the saloon.

He espied the new arrival, and was evidently surprised to meet Scott in such a place.

"Hello, Scott!" he called out.

"Good-evening, Loammi," returned Scott, coolly.

"Goin\' to take an ice cream?"

"Yes."

"I say, are you working yet?"

"Not yet."

"Then how can you afford to buy ice cream?" Loammi was about to ask, but the presence of Justin Wood checked him. Mr. Wood was handsomely dressed, and looked like a man of means.

"I wonder where Scott picked him up," thought Loammi. He wished to be introduced, but Scott did not give any encouragement in that direction.

Loammi, having no good excuse to stay, rose and left the saloon.

"So that\'s your cousin?" remarked Justin Wood.

"Yes."

[Pg 169]

"He looks sly. I am something of a judge of faces, and I don\'t like his."

"I suppose I am prejudiced against him," said Scott. "I don\'t think I could ever like him."

Scarcely had Loammi left the saloon, when Scott was surprised to see Ezra Little and his wife enter.

Mrs. Little first caught sight of Scott, and spoke in a low tone to her husband.

Ezra Little, turning his glance in the direction of Scott, eyed him severely.

"So this is where you spend your ill-gotten money," he said, not noticing that Scott was in the company of the fashionably dressed young man sitting on the opposite side of the table.

"I beg your pardon, sir," said Justin Wood, "but it is my money that is being spent."

"I was not aware that you were in the boy\'s company," said Ezra Little, respectfully, for he saw that Mr. Wood was a gentleman of social position. "I must explain that your companion left my house a week since under discreditable circumstances."

"He told me the circumstances. You assumed that the money he had in his possession was stolen."

"There can hardly be a doubt of it. There was[Pg 170] a five-dollar bill—and the missing pocketbook contained a five-dollar bill."

"I am personally cognizant of the fact that the money was his own. Indeed, I helped to recover it for him from a swindler who had robbed him of it."

"This does not explain the pocketbook being found in his chamber."

"Where your son put it."

"This is a strange charge to make, sir. Have you any grounds for making it?"

"Scott and I called at your house this evening. The servant said that an hour before the discovery of the pocketbook your son was seen by her coming out of Scott\'s room."

Ezra Little looked startled, and Mrs. Little looked distressed.

"Moreover, I think if you inquire, you will find that some of the stolen money was disposed of in this saloon. Your son only went out ten minutes since. Suppose you inquire whether he has changed a five-dollar bill here recently."

"I will do so."

Ezra Little went up to the cashier.

"I understand," he said, "that my son comes in here frequently."

[Pg 171]

"Yes, sir, he was here this evening."

"Can you call to mind whether you have ever changed a five-dollar bill for him?"

"I did so about a week since. Was there anything wrong about the bill?"

"I only asked out of curiosity."

Ezra was a hard man, but he was not altogether unjust.

"Scott," he said, "I think there may have been some mistake about your taking the pocketbook. If you will call at the store to-morrow, I will see about taking you back."

Scott bowed, but did not speak. He felt that he could never again be contented in Mr............