"Do you mean you feel badly because Matilda was so reduced in finances
that she couldn't even meet a small account like her milk bill?" asked
Hugh, fishing for a bite.

"Why, yes, partly that," said Thad, slowly; "but it knocked me all in
a heap to see that old rascal of a Brother Lu walk out with the last
dollar he had in the wide world, and gladly hand it over to liquidate
that same account. Say, if we didn't just know he was a bad one,
I'd call that a really generous act."

"Oh," chuckled Hugh, "not so very generous, after all, when you come
to examine things closer. Don't forget, Thad, that he's been sponging
on that poor couple for a good many weeks already; and then, if our
calculations are correct, he means to fasten on them for keeps."

"That's so," agreed the other, heaving a sigh as though he felt
somewhat relieved in his mind to have his comrade point out a solution
to the problem. "Of course, he's imposing on his relatives something
shameful, and the least he could do was to toe the scratch when an
emergency came along. But he did the thing up brown, I must admit."

"And then again, how do we know that five dollars was every cent he
had in the world?" asked Hugh, insinuatingly.

"He said as much," declared Thad, instantly; and then laughed as he
hastened to add: "though for that matter what would one little white
lie mean to a fellow as case-hardened as an old hobo? There's another
thing I'm thinking about, Hugh."