e late."

"No, mother, I won't. I want to call on a friend of mine, who is
sick."

"Who it is, Luke?"

"It is Jim Norman. The poor boy took cold one day, his shoes were so
far gone. He has a bad cough, and I am afraid it will go hard with
him.

"Is he a newsboy, too, Luke?" asked Bennie Walton.

"No; he is a bootblack."

"I shouldn't like to black boots."

"Nor I, Bennie; but if a boy is lucky there is more money to be made
in that business."

"Where does he live?" asked Mrs. Walton.

"On Ohio Street, not very far from here. There's another boy I know
lives on that street Tom Brooks; but he isn't a friend of mine. He
wanted me to keep five dollars, and treat him and some other boys to
an evening at the theater, and a supper afterwards."

"I hope you won't associate with him, Luke."

"Not more than I can help."

Luke took his hat and went downstairs into the street.

In the hall he met Nancy. She waylaid him with an eager look on her
face.

"Who was the letter from, Luke?" she asked.

"From a friend of the family, who is now dead," answered Luke,
gravely.

"Good gracious! How could he write it after he was dead?" ejaculated
Nancy.

"It was given to a person to mail who forgot all about it, and carried
it in his pocket for a year."

"My sakes alive! If I got a letter from a dead man it would make me
creep all over. No wonder your ma came near faintin'."

CHAPTER IV

AN ATTACK IN THE DARK

Luke turned into Milwaukee Avenue, and a few steps took him to West
Ohio Street, where his friend lived. On his way he met Tom Brooks, who
was lounging in front of a cigar store, smoking a cigarette.

"Good-evening, Tom," said Luke, politely.

"Evenin'!" responded Tom, briefly. "Where you goin'?"

"To see Jim Norman. He's sick."

"What's the matter of him?"

"He's got a bad cold and is confined to the house?"

Tom shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't go much on Jim Norman," he said, "He ought to be a girl. He
never smoked a cigarette in his life."

"Didn't he? All the better for him. I don't smoke myself."

"You have smoked."

"Yes, I used to, but it troubled my mother, and I promised her I
wouldn't do it again."

"So you broke off?"

"Yes."

"I wouldn't be tied to a woman's apron strings."

"Wouldn't you try to oblige your mother?"

"No, I wouldn't. What does a woman know about boys? If I was a gal it
would be different."

"Then we don't agree, that is all."

"I say, Luke, won't