saying:

"I wish you success in your wonderful experiment, Hugh, I sure do;
but all the same I don't believe for a minute the leopard is going to
change its spots, or that Nick Lang, the worst boy in Scranton, can
ever reform."

Hugh would say nothing further about it, only, of course, he made
Thad promise to keep everything secret until he gave permission to
speak. If Nick made good this would never happen.

That night Hugh had a jolly time, and it was fairly late when he
crept into bed. As he lay there, instead of going to sleep
immediately, he looked out of the window toward the west, where a
bright star hung above the horizon. It seemed like a magnet to Hugh,
who lay there and watched for its setting, all the while allowing his
thoughts to roam back to the remarkable happening of that afternoon.

"It's a toss-up, just as Thad says, whether anything worth while will
come of my experiment," he told himself; "but, anyhow, I've given
Nick something to think over. And if he makes the first advances
toward me I'm bound to meet him half-way. I only hope it turns out
like the story of Jean Valjean did. But there goes my Star of Hope
down behind the horizon; and now I'd better be getting some sleep
myself. All the same I'm glad I did it!"

And doubtless he slept all the more soundly because of the noble
impulse that had impelled him to save Nick Lang from the Reform
School.