en Watson recklessly, for he saw that
submission would be ruin, and leave him penniless.

"Wait a minute! I'll give you another chance. Do you know what we are
prepared to prove? Well, I will tell you. We can prove that you are not
only a swindler but a forger, and our success will consign you to a
prison cell. You deserve it, no doubt, but you shall have a chance."

"What terms do you offer?" asked Stephen Watson, overwhelmed by the
conviction that what Miller said was true.

"Surrender unconditionally, restore to Kit his own property, and----"

"But it will leave me penniless!" groaned Stephen Watson.

"Just as I supposed. In Kit's behalf, I will promise that you shall not
starve. You once kept a small grocery store, and understand the trade.
We will set you up in that business wherever you choose, and will give
you besides a small income, say three hundred dollars a year, so that
you may be able to live modestly."

"But Ralph, my poor boy, what will become of him?"

"I will pay the expenses of his education," said Kit, "and when he
leaves school, I will make him an allowance so that he can enter a store
and qualify himself to earn his own living. He won't be able to live as
he has lived, but he shall not suffer."

"It is more than either of you deserve," said Henry Miller. "I was not
in favor of treating you so generously, but Kit, whom you have
defrauded, insisted upon it. You ought to thank him on your knees."

Stephen Watson did not speak. He looked the picture of misery.

"Do you agree to this?" asked Mr. Miller.

"I must!" replied Watson, sullenly.

It made a great sensation in Smyrna when Kit took his proper place as
the true master of his dead father's estate. Stephen Watson left town
suddenly, and Ralph followed him. No sorrow was felt for his reverse of
fortune, for he had made no friends in the town. He and Ralph settled
down in a small Western city, and started a grocery store. From time to
time Kit receives abject letters, pleading for more money, and sometimes
he sends it, but always against the advice of Henry Miller, who says
rightly that Stephen Watson already fares better than he deserves.

Ralph is turning out badly. His pride received a severe shock when his
cousin was raised above him, and he has formed bad habits which in time
will wreck him physically, unless he turns over a new leaf.

It is hardly necessary to say that Kit decided not to learn the
blacksmith's trade. His old empl