isease,
so the doctor assures me. Any unwonted agitation might kill him
instantly. I am sure you would not like to expose him to such a risk."

He spoke with apparent sincerity, but Florence did not feel certain
that his words were truthful.

"Very well," she said. "Then I will give up seeing him."

"It is best, unless you are ready to accede to his wishes--and mine."

She did not answer, but walked away slowly.

"It would never do to have them meet!" muttered Curtis. "The old
gentleman would ask her to come back on any terms, and then all my
scheming would be upset. That was a happy invention of mine, about
heart disease," he continued, with a low laugh. "Though she only half
believed it, she will not dare to run the risk of giving him a shock."

It was about this time that the quiet tenor of Dodger's life was
interrupted by a startling event.

He still continued to visit the piers, and one afternoon about six
o'clock, he stood on the pier awaiting the arrival of the day boat
from Albany, with a small supply of evening papers under his arm.

He had sold all but half a dozen when the boat touched the pier. He
stood watching the various passengers as they left the boat and turned
their steps in different directions, when some one touched him on the
shoulder.

Looking up, he saw standing at his side a man of slender figure, with
gray hair and whiskers.

"Boy," he said, "I am a stranger in the city. Can I ask your
assistance?"

"Yes, sir; certainly," answered Dodger, briskly.

"Do you know where the nearest station of the elevated road is?"

"Yes, sir?"

"I want to go uptown, but I know very little about the city. Will you
accompany me as guide? I will pay you well."

"All right, sir," answered Dodger.

It was just the job he was seeking.

"We will have to walk a few blocks, unless you want to take a
carriage."

"It isn't necessary. I am strong, in spite of my gray hair."

And indeed he appeared to be.

Dodger noticed that he walked with the elastic step of a young man,
while his face certainly showed no trace of wrinkles.

"I live in the West," said the stranger, as they walked along. "I have
not been here for ten years."

"Then you have never ridden on the elevated road?" said Dodger.

"N-no," answered the stranger, with curious hesitation.

Yet when they reached the station he went up the staircase and
purchased his ticket with the air of a man who was thoroughly
accustomed to doing it.