read a favorite book.

"Of course, Hugh, I told him it would be too much for his aching leg,
but he assured me the pain had now all left him; and he wanted to know
if there was anything I could suggest that Owen might have to add to
his comfort while at home studying his lessons or reading. So I went
with him upstairs. Say, it's a real queer house, and must look a whole
lot spooky at night time; because they only burn lamps and candles, for
there's no electricity connection at all, or any gas either, I suppose.

"At the end of a long hall we came to where three steps led down into a
room. It was a bully place, I will say that, with plenty of light from
a lot of small dinky windows that faced on three sides of the room.
Owen had fixed it up in good taste in the bargain. He must have plenty
of spending money, because there were lots of traps around, from a pair
of expensive snow shoes hanging on the wall to a splendid toboggan
tilted up in a corner.

"In fact, Hugh, the place was pretty well filled with boy truck. It
looked cozy to me, and I ought to know something about a boy's den;
haven't I arranged mine seven separate times, until now it's back where
I started? Well, of course, to please the old gentleman, I walked
around, and peeked at things and told him Owen had as fine a loafing
place as any boy in Scranton; which sort of talk seemed to tickle Mr.
Dugdale a heap.

"Then, Hugh, I got my shock, all right. It seemed to grip my heart
just as if an ice-cold hand had been laid on it. You see, in nosing
around I chanced to set eyes on something that lay half hidden among
some papers on a side table. Hugh, you could have knocked me down with