Henry, but would not say so to a comparative stranger, and at last he
succeeded in changing the conversation. George was about moving away,
when observing a little old-fashioned looking book lying upon one of
the boxes, he took it up and turning to the fly-leaf read the name of
"Frank Howard."

"Frank Howard! Frank Howard!" he repeated; "where have I heard that
name? Who is he, Bender?"

"He was a little English boy I once, loved very much; but he is dead
now," answered Billy; and George, with a suddenly awakened curiosity,
said, "Tell me about him and his family, will you?"

Without dreaming that George had ever seen them, Billy told the story
of Frank's sickness and death,--of the noble conduct of his little
sister, who, when there was no other alternative, went cheerfully to
the poor-house, winning by her gentle ways the love of those unused to
love, and taming the wild mood of a maniac until she was harmless as a
child. As he proceeded with his story, George became each moment more
and more interested, and when at last there was a pause, he asked,
"And is Mary in the poor-house now?"

"I have not mentioned her name, and pray how came you to know it?"
said Billy in some surprise.

In a few words George related the particulars of his acquaintance with
the Howards, and then again asked where both Mary and Ella were.

Billy replied that for a few years back Mary had lived with a Mrs.
Mason, while Ella, at the time of her mother's death had been adopted