and coffee, and buttered toast, and bloater-paste--"

"That will do as to the menu," said mother.  "Go on!"

"When it was all ready, and the maid had gone, I put a chair to the table and said, 'Now, sir, your breakfast is ready!'  He stood up and said, 'Thank you, madam; you are very kind!' and he bowed to me quite nicely, just as if I was a lady, ma'am!"

"Go on," said mother.

"Then, sir, he held out his hand and said, 'Good-bye, and thank you,' and he took up his cap."

"'But aren't you going to have any breakfast, sir?' I says."

"'No, thank you, madam,' he said; 'I couldn't eat here . . . in this house, I mean!'  Well, ma'am, he looked so lonely that I felt my heart melting, and I ventured to ask him if there was any mortal thing I could do for him.  'Do tell me, dear,' I ventured to say.  'I am an old woman, and you, sir, are only a boy, though it's a fine man you will be--like your dear, splendid father, which I remember so well, and gentle like your poor dear mother.'"

"'You're a dear!' he says; and with that I took up his hand and kissed it, for I remember his poor dear mother so well, that was dead only a year.  Well, with that he turned his head away, and when I took him by the shoulders and turned him round--he is only a young boy, ma'am, for all he is so big--I saw that the tears were rolling down his cheeks.  With that I laid his head on my breast--I've had children of my own, ma'am, as you know, though they're all gone.  He came willing enough, and sobbed for a little bit.  Then he straightened himself up, and I stood respectfully beside him."

"'Tell Mr. Melton,' he said, 'that I shall not trouble him about the trustee business.'"

"'But won't you tell him yourself, sir, when you see him?' I says."

"'I shall not see him again,' he says; 'I am going back now!'"

"Well, ma'am, I knew he'd had no breakfast, though he was hungry, and that he would walk as he come, so I ventured to say: 'If you won't take it a liberty, sir, may I do anything to make your going easier?  Have you sufficient money, sir?  If not, may I give, or lend, you some?  I shall be very proud if you will allow me to.'"

"'Yes,' he says quite hearty.  'If you will, you might lend me a shilling, as I have no money.  I shall not 

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