sual spirit of self-sacrifice, had offered him her own
attic, while she made shift, but, of course, he would not hear of
that.

He had spent the morning in making arrangements for the funeral; they
would bury the kind old Papa in two days from now. Happily, there was
no lack of money at the moment. A week sooner, and a pauper's grave
might have awaited him.

Nello was very excited with his evening, and in consequence, wakeful.
He smoked a cigarette, and Anita thought he would suggest retiring to
his improvised bed after he had finished. But, to her surprise, he did
not seem at all desirous of repose.

"Are you very sleepy, little one?" he asked.

As a matter of fact the girl could hardly keep her eyes open. The long
watch by old Peron's bedside had tried her slender vitality sorely.
But she was always ready to sacrifice herself to the slightest whim of
those she loved.

"Not in the least. What is in your mind, Nello?"

"I thought we might look through the dear old Papa's papers. He said
we were to open that cupboard after his death. I wonder if we shall
learn who and what he was?"

Nello went to the little cupboard and drew from it the ebony casket.
The first thing that met his eye was the glittering order of Saint
Louis, attached to a faded ribbon, which had been returned on the
night when he had raised sufficient money on the miniature.

There was a very small bundle of papers, carefully tied up, for good
old Papa Peron was nothing if not methodical and neat. There was
nothing in the papers to reveal his identity. With two exceptions they
were absolutely unimportant documents. These, according to Peron's
dying injunctions, Nello committed to the fire. It was the dead man's
wish.

The first exception was a letter addressed to Anita, dated a few weeks
back, no doubt when he had prescience that the end was near. In it he
told her that he had left everything in the world he possessed to her:
the ring set with diamonds, which had not then been pawned, the order
of St. Louis, and the piano. These would give her and her brother a
little capital with which to carry on.

It was a very informal sort of will, although he had taken the
precaution to have his signature witnessed by his landlady. But there
was no next of kin to dispute the document, and Anita was the sole
heiress of his poor possessions--poor from the point of view of money
value.

Two other letters were tied up together, the one addressed to Nello