as money; his
family is not in want. But the statement would have been incorrect.

The Cowelses, like hundreds of other families, were without money,
without credit, and would shortly be without food. The last money they
had received from the Brotherhood had gone to pay the interest on the
money due the Benevolent Building Association, for fuel, and to pay the
milkman who was bringing milk for the baby. It would be forty or fifty
days before another assessment could be made and the money collected.
The outlook was gloomy. Mr. Hawkins had called again and offered ten
dollars a month for the little spare room on the second floor, but
Cowels would not consent.

But at the very moment when he was making this speech his wife was
returning empty-handed from the bakery. Bennie had been watching,
waiting at the window for her, and when she saw him staring at her, saw
the tears come into his innocent eyes, she took him in her arms and wept
as she had not wept before. They had breakfasted on bread and water. It
was now past noon and they were all hungry. She gave Bennie some of the
baby's milk, and then sat down to think. The door-bell rung. "I was just
passing by," said Mr. Hawkins, "and thought I'd stop and see if there
was any show to get that room. I work for the plumber in the next block,
so you see it would be handy for me."

"Would you pay in advance?" asked Mrs. Cowels.

"I shouldn't mind," said the plumber, "if it would be of any advantage
to you."

"Then you can have the room."

"Very well," said the man, apparently delighted with his bargain, and he
gave her a crisp ten-dollar note. He also gave Bennie a big, red apple,
and looked surprised when the boy began to bite great chunks out of it.

That evening when Cowels came home he found the house filled with the
fumes of boiled beef, and it put him in a good humor at once. He was
hungry, having had nothing all day but a glass of beer and a free lunch.

"They's a man up-stairs," said Bennie, shoving his empty plate up for
another load of boiled beef. Mrs. Cowels smiled a faint smile, and her
husband asked:

"Who is this fellow?"

"He's a plumber," was the reply, "and he seems like a very nice man."

"Did he pay a month in advance?"

"Yes."

"Well, I don't like the idea of having strangers in the house," said
Cowels, "and I wish you had not taken him in."

"I dislike it too, George," said Mrs. Cowels, "but the baker had refused
me a loaf of bread, the chi