closet of my bed-chamber to
pray, requesting that the quarter should be dropped on the north side of
Lyme Street, between Stamford and Tryon; in short, as conveniently near
home as possible. Then I issued forth, not feeling overconfident, but
hoping. Tom Peters, leaning over the ornamental cast-iron fence which
separated his front yard from the street, presently spied me scanning
the sidewalk.

"What are you looking for, Hugh?" he demanded with interest.

"Oh, something I dropped," I answered uneasily.

"What?"

Naturally, I refused to tell. It was a broiling, midsummer day; Julia
and Russell, who had been warned to stay in the shade, but who were
engaged in the experiment of throwing the yellow cat from the top of
the lattice fence to see if she would alight on her feet, were presently
attracted, and joined in the search. The mystery which I threw around it
added to its interest, and I was not inconsiderably annoyed. Suppose one
of them were to find the quarter which God had intended for me? Would
that be justice?

"It's nothing," I said, and pretended to abandon the quest--to be
renewed later. But this ruse failed; they continued obstinately to
search; and after a few minutes Tom, with a shout, picked out of a hot
crevice between the bricks--a nickel!

"It's mine!" I cried fiercely.

"Did you lose it?" demanded Julia, the canny one, as Tom was about to
give it up.

My lying was generally reserved for my elders.

"N-no," I said hesitatingly, "but it's mine all the same. It was--sent
to me."

"Sent to you!" they exclaimed, in a chorus of protest and derision. And
how, indeed, was I to make good my claim? The Peterses, when assembled,
were a clan, led by Julia and in matters of controversy, moved as one.
How was I to tell them that in answer to my prayers for twenty-five
cents, God had deemed five all that was good for me?

"Some--somebody dropped it there for me."

"Who?" demanded the chorus. "Say, that's a good one!"

Tears suddenly blinded me. Overcome by chagrin, I turned and flew into
the house and upstairs into my room, locking the door behind me. An
interval ensued, during which I nursed my sense of wrong, and it pleased
me to think that the money would bring a curse on the Peters family. At
length there came a knock on the door, and a voice calling my name.

"Hugh! Hugh!"

It was Tom.

"Hughie, won't you let me in? I want to give you the nickel."

"Keep it!" I shouted back. "You found it."