I won't get too much elated,
for it may not last. What do you think of Mr. Conrad's proposal?"

"To go to New York?"

"Yes."

Mrs. Rand's countenance fell.

"I don't see how I can spare you, Chester," she said, soberly.

"If there were any chance of making a living in Wyncombe, it would be
different."

"You might go back to Mr. Tripp's store."

"After he had charged me with stealing? No, mother, I will never serve
Silas Tripp again."

"There might be some other chance."

"But there isn't, mother. By the way, I heard at the post office that
the shoe manufactory will open again in three weeks."

"That's good news. I shall have some more binding to do."

"And I can send you something every week from New York."

"But I will be so lonely, Chester, with no one else in the house."

"That is true, mother."

"But I won't let that stand in the way. You may have prospects in New
York. You have none here."

"And, as Mr. Conrad says, I am likely to run out of subjects for
sketches."

"I think I shall have to give my consent, then."

"Thank you, mother," said Chester, joyfully. "I will do what I can to
pay you for the sacrifice you are making."

Just then the doorbell rang.

"It is Mr. Gardener, the lawyer," said Chester, looking from the
window.

A moment later he admitted the lawyer.

"Well, Chester," said Mr. Gardener, pleasantly, "have you disposed of
your lots in Tacoma yet?"

"No, Mr. Gardener. In fact, I had almost forgotten about them."

"Sometime they may prove valuable."

"I wish it might be soon."

"I fancy you will have to wait a few years. By the time you are
twenty-one you may come into a competence."

"I won't think of it till then."

"That's right. Work as if you had nothing to look forward to."

"You don't want to take me into your office and make a lawyer of me,
Mr. Gardener, do you?"

"Law in Wyncombe does not offer any inducements. If I depended on my
law business, I should fare poorly, but thanks to a frugal and
industrious father, I have a fair income outside of my earnings. Mrs.
Rand, my visit this morning is to you. How would you like to take a
boarder?"

Chester and his mother looked surprised.

"Who is it, Mr. Gardener?"

"I have a cousin, a lady of forty, who thinks of settling down in
Wyncombe. She thinks country air will be more favorable to her health
than the city."

"Probably she is used to better accommodations than she would find
here."

"My cousin wi