ying in a nutshell.

Leo had faith. What would a rich man care for five dollars when he
wanted to please his children? He had watched his mice day after day,
and week after week, by the hour at a time, and had never failed to be
amused at their gambols. Everybody that came to the house was delighted
with them. If the man in Court Street could sell them, he could. There
was money in the speculation, Leo reasoned, and it should not fail for
the want of a fair trial.

He could make houses of various sizes, styles, and prices, and thus
suit all tastes. He could stock each one with as many mice as the
customer desired. He could make a pretty elaborate establishment in two
days--five-dollar size; and of the smaller and plainer kind--two-dollar
pattern--he could make two in a day.

The palace on the bench was nearly completed, and he went to work at
once and finished it. It had a glass front, so that the dainty little
occupants of the institution could not get out, and the foe of white
mice, the terrible cat, could not get in. This establishment had been
intended for Mr. Stropmore; but as that gentleman had not been informed
of his purpose to present it, Leo decided that it should be used to
initiate the experiment on whose success so much depended.

It was ten o'clock at night when the grand palace on the bench was
finished. Leo put some cotton wool into the sleeping apartments, and
then transferred three pairs of mice from the most densely populated
house to the new one. He watched them for a while, as they explored
their elegant hotel, going up stairs and down, snuffing in every
corner, standing upon their hind legs, and taking the most minute
observations of the surroundings.

Leo was entirely satisfied with the work of his hands, and with the
conduct of the mice who had been promoted to a residence in its elegant
and spacious quarters. If there was not five dollars in that
establishment, then the rich men of Boston were stingy and ungrateful.
If they could not appreciate that superb palace, and those supple
little beauties who held court within its ample walls, why, they were
not worthy to be citizens of the Athens of America!

Leo went up stairs. Andre still slept, and Maggie sat by the bedside,
patiently watching him in his slumbers. He crept softly into the front
room, and looked at the pale face of his father. His heart was lighter
than it had been before since the news of the calamity was told to him.
He was f