Loammi and his father arrived late in the evening at Niagara, and put up at the International Hotel. Had they looked back in the book of arrivals they would have seen the name of Scott Walton, but they failed to do so.

As they sped over the Central Railroad, Loammi was in high spirits. It was his first long journey and he felt somehow that it would increase his consequence. He was prepared to make much of it on his return, and he felt that his friends and schoolfellows would be impressed.

The International Hotel seemed to him quite grand, and as he had never been a guest at a hotel before, he quite enjoyed his new way of living.

"Isn\'t it fine, pa?" he said, as they walked through the office.

"It is fine enough," responded his father, practically, "but it costs money, Loammi; I expect[Pg 262] they\'ll be charging me four or five dollars a day."

"Oh, well, pa, you can afford it."

"That may be, but I am afraid it is money thrown away to pay your expenses on such a trip. It would have been better to pay you ten dollars, and let you stay at home."

"I wouldn\'t have been willing to do it, pa. Wouldn\'t Scott like to be traveling as we are doing?"

"I presume he would. You haven\'t heard anything of him, have you?"

"No."

"He can\'t be in New York, I should say."

"He\'s probably tramping about somewhere," said Loammi, rather contemptuously.

"I think the boy has some business talent," his father remarked, who was not so much prejudiced as his son.

"Oh, I suppose he\'d pass, but he couldn\'t hold a place. He had to leave you and now he\'s left Tower, Douglas & Co."

"Do you know why he left them?"

"One of the clerks told me he was too fresh."

This was not quite correct, as it was Loammi who had designated his cousin in that way.

While they were waiting for breakfast, a [Pg 263]traveling acquaintance from Boston, a Mr. Norwood, greeted them.

"Do you know," he said, "there\'s an English earl staying in this hotel?"

"Is there? Who is it?" asked Ezra Little, for he had a reverence for rank.

"It is the Earl of Windermere."

"Yes, I know of the title. Have you seen him?"

"No, but I saw his name on the register."

"I hope we shall meet him, pa," said Loammi. "It would be quite a feather in our cap if we could get introduced to him."

"I should like that myself, Loammi. Do you know if he is a young man, or an old one, Mr. Norwood?"

"He is a young man, under thirty."

"We will look for him at breakfast."

When they took their seats at the table, Mr. Little said to the waiter: "I hear there\'s an earl staying at the hotel?"

"Yes, sir."

"Could you point him out to us?"

The waiter looked across the room.

"He generally sits at that table, sir, but he has not come in yet."

[Pg 264]

"Is any one of his family with him?"

"I don\'t rightly know. There\'s a boy goes round with him a good deal—about the age of this young gentleman."

"I will try to get acquainted with him, pa," said Loammi. "I guess that\'ll be the easiest way to get in with the earl."

The breakfast proceeded and was nearly over for Loammi and his father, when the waiter came up.

"There\'s the earl just coming in, sir," he said, "and the boy with him."

Both father and son looked toward the earl with eager curiosity. They did not at first take special notice of the boy. When they did, Loammi grasped his father\'s arm in excitement.

"The boy looks just like Scott," he said.

"It is Scott," pronounced his father, looking through his eyeglasses.

"Nonsense, pa, it can\'t be!" said Loammi. "It\'s ridiculous to think of Scott being in company with an earl."

"Ridiculous or not, it is a fact."

"Perhaps they are not together," said Loammi, who did not like to believe that his humble cousin was in such aristocratic company. "Is that the[Pg 265] boy that usually goes around with the earl?" he asked, turning to the waiter.

"Yes, sir, it\'s the very identical boy," answered the waiter.

"I never heard of such a thing," gasped Loammi. "That boy\'s cheek seems too great for anything. But perhaps he is the earl\'s valet, though I don\'t know how he could have got the position."

"I don\'t know but he\'s............