to live, he is. He thinks he owns the earth, he does."

The flush deepened on the boy's face, and I drove his assailants away
ere I let him begin his work.

"Now, my boy, take your time, and you shall have extra pay for the job;
pardon me for laughing at you; don't mind those boys, but tell me why
they call you 'His Royal Highness?'"

He gazed up in my face a moment with a hungry look, and I said, "You
can trust me."

"Well, sir, they thinks I'm proud and stuck-up, 'cause I won't pitch
pennies and play 'craps' with 'em, and they says I'm stingy and trying
to own the earth, 'cause I won't chew tobacco and drink beer, or buy
the stuff for 'em. They says my father must be a king, for I wears
such fashionable clothes, and puts on so many airs, but that I run away
from home 'cause I wanted to boss my father and be king myself. So
they calls me 'His Royal Highness.'"

There was a tremble in his voice as he paused a moment, and then he
continued:

"If I ever had a father, I never seen him, and if, I had a mother, I
wish someone would tell me who she was. How can a feller be proud and
stuck-up who ain't got no father and no mother, and no name only Joe?
They calls me stingy 'cause I'm saving all the money I can, but I ain't
saving it for myself--I'm saving it for Jessie."

"Is Jessie your sister?" I asked.