do him good service
now. He set a very inviting looking table. A very coarse, but
delightfully clean white cloth, hid the roughness and imperfections of
the dry-goods box; and his stock of crockery, consisting of three cups
and saucers, three large plates, and three pie plates, purchased at the
auction rooms, were disposed of with all the skill which his native tact
and his apprenticeship at the Euclid House had taught him. After mature
deliberation he had bargained for and rolled back the barrel, made it
stationary with the help of a nail or two, and mounting it was ready for
customers. He had them, too--one especially, whose appearance filled him
with great satisfaction. With the incoming of the four o'clock train Mr.
Stephens appeared, stopped in surprise on seeing his new acquaintance,
asked numerous questions, and finally remarked that he had been gone all
day, and might as well take his lunch there and go directly to the
store. So Tode had the very great pleasure of seeing him drink two cups
of his coffee, eat three of his cakes, and lay down fifty cents in
payment thereof. Never was there a more satisfied boy than he, when at
dusk he packed his cakes into a basket procured for the purpose, covered
them carefully with the table-cloth, tucked the coffee-pot in at one
end, and marched whistling away toward home. He had been gone since
quite early in the morning, had procured his own breakfast and dinner,
according to previous arrangement, but was going home to tea.

It is doubtful if there will ever anything look nicer to Tode than did
that little clean room, and that little square table, with its bit of a
white patched table-cloth, and its three plates and three knives, and
its loaf of bread, and its very little lump of butter; a little black
teakettle puffed and steamed its welcome, and a very funny little old
brown ware teapot stood waiting on the hearth. There was that in this
poor homeless boy's nature that took this picture in, and he felt it to
his very heart. It was better a hundred times than the glitter and
grandeur of the Euclid House, for didn't he know perfectly well that the
little brown teapot on the hearth was waiting for _him_, and had
anything ever waited for _him_ before?

"Now we are all ready," chirped the old lady, cheerily, as Tode set down
his basket and took off his cap. "Come Winny," and straightway there
appeared from the little room of the kitchen a new character in this
story of Tode's