so unexpected that it gave him a pang to remember how he must bring new
shadows upon her heart by telling how he was suspected of having done a
terrible thing.

"Good news, Dick, guess what it is?" she exclaimed, as she fondly caught
him in her arms and kissed him.

"Not the resumption of paying dividends by that company?" he asked.

"No, something as unexpected as a meteor falling out of the heavens. I
have received word from a lawyer in Boston that a relative whom I hardly
knew belonged to the family has died, and left me quite a little
fortune--the lawyer could not say the exact amount, but it brings in
something like a thousand dollars a year."

Dick could hardly believe his ears.

What a day this had been, the evil mingled with the good; would he ever
forget it as long as he lived?

Of course, being a boy he immediately forgot all about his own troubles,
and hugged his little mother until she begged for mercy.

"Say, isn't that great? Did you ever hear of such luck, and just when it
looked as if we were near the bottom of the heap, too? Ain't it just
bully? I feel as if I could whoop like a wild Indian. Now, mother, no
more worry for you, and a rest from all that miserable sewing that makes
your eyes red. Hurrah for the Morrisons! they're sure IT right now."

His boyish enthusiasm was bubbling over in this fashion when he suddenly
remembered the distressing news he had brought with him; still, in the
light of his mother's glorious good fortune Dick somehow felt that he
could stand the odium of being under suspicion for a little while; for,
of course, the truth must come out sooner or later.

His friends at the bank believed in him, and if the cashier still
harbored any doubts he at least was a square man and meant to do the
right thing; as for what Mr. Graylock chose to think, that could not
matter a great deal, for he had plainly shown that he was very much
prejudiced against Dick--in fact, come to think of it, he had by every
means in his power striven to make it appear that the crime must lie at
his door.

Why should this be?

It was what puzzled Dick, and seemed to be the subject of much of his
pondering.

He waited until they were through supper before speaking of the ugly
matter.

Trust a fond mother's eyes for discovering that her boy had something on
his mind that even the glorious news received that day was unable to
dissipate.

"Now tell me what ails you, son," she said, as he snuggled