room, and his rough
visitor followed him. By the light of an astral lamp Squire Davenport
looked at him.

"Did I ever see you before?" he asked.

"Probably not."

"Then I don't see what business we can have together. I am tired, and
wish to go to bed."

"I'll come to business at once, then. When John Barclay died in
Chicago, a wallet was found in his pocket, and in that wallet was a
promissory note for a thousand dollars, signed by you. I suppose you
have paid that sum to the widow?"

Squire Davenport was the picture of dismay. He had meanly ignored the
note, with the intention of cheating Mrs. Barclay. He had supposed it
was lost, yet here, after some years, appeared a man who knew of it.
As Mr. Barclay had been reticent about his business affairs, he had
never told his wife about having deposited this sum with Squire
Davenport, and of this fact the squire had meanly taken advantage.

"What proof have you of this strange and improbable story?" asked the
squire, after a nervous pause.

"The best of proof," answered the tramp promptly. "The note was found
and is now in existence."

"Who holds it--that is, admitting for a moment the truth of your
story?"

"I do; it is in my pocket at this moment."

At this moment Tom Davenport opened the door of the apartment, and
stared in open-eyed amazement at his father's singular visitor.

"Leave the room, Tom," said his father hastily. "This man is
consulting me on business."

"Is that your son, squire?" asked the tramp, with a familiar nod.
"He's quite a young swell."

"What business can my father have with such a cad?" thought Tom,
disgusted.

Tom was pleased, nevertheless, at being taken for "a young swell."

CHAPTER VIII
SQUIRE DAVENPORT'S FINANCIAL OPERATION

Squire Davenport was a thoroughly respectable man in the estimation of
the community. That such a man was capable of defrauding a poor
widow, counting on her ignorance, would have plunged all his friends
and acquaintances into the profoundest amazement.

Yet this was precisely what the squire had done.

Mr. Barclay, who had prospered beyond his wife's knowledge, found
himself seven years before in possession of a thousand dollars in hard
cash. Knowing that the squire had a better knowledge of suitable
investments than he, he went to him one day and asked advice. Now,
the squire was fond of money. When he saw the ample roll of bank
notes which his neighbor took from his wallet,