situation was forthcoming. Finally he came upon a man who was willing to
try him for an afternoon. From the moment the boy rightly considered
himself engaged, for he was master of his trade. He began his work with
heart elate. Now he had within his grasp the possibility of being all
that he wanted to be. Now Thomas might take him out at any time and not
be ashamed of him.

With Thomas, the fact that Joe was working put the boy in an entirely
new light. He decided that now he might be worth cultivating. For a week
or two he had ignored him, and, proceeding upon the principle that if
you give corn to the old hen she will cluck to her chicks, had treated
Mrs. Hamilton with marked deference and kindness. This had been without
success, as both the girl and her mother held themselves politely aloof
from him. He began to see that his hope of winning Kitty's affections
lay, not in courting the older woman but in making a friend of the boy.
So on a certain Saturday night when the Banner Club was to give one of
its smokers, he asked Joe to go with him. Joe was glad to, and they set
out together. Arrived, Thomas left his companion for a few moments while
he attended, as he said, to a little business. What he really did was to
seek out the proprietor of the club and some of its hangers on.

"I say," he said, "I 've got a friend with me to-night. He 's got some
dough on him. He 's fresh and young and easy."

"Whew!" exclaimed the proprietor.

"Yes, he 's a good thing, but push it along kin' o' light at first; he
might get skittish."

"Thomas, let me fall on your bosom and weep," said a young man who, on