nd the old man?"

"_Ah, helas_! he is ver' ver' ill. He vill die next week. _Moi_, I can
not to him go; and Marie, she write me she must leave Paris this day to
her duties. It is sad for the poor old _pere_ to die with not von
friend to 'old 'is 'and. Ah! if ze petite Francoise yet lived, _ma
pauvre enfant_, she would stay and--"

"Stop!" said the tutor imperatively. "Is he still in the old place?"

"_Helas_, non! you make ze joke, you. Ve are ver' ver' poor, and 'ave
no homes. _Mon pere_, he is to the hopital. Thank 'eaven, they 'ave
zere give 'im ze bed to die."

"Which hospital is he at?" said the tutor.

"De Saint Luc."

"I will see him."

The Frenchman gave a little hysterical laugh; then, with tears in his
eyes, he seized the hand of the Englishman and wrung it rapturously.

"_Oh, mon ami, mon cher ami_!" cried he, "'eaven will bless you. I am
'appy that you say that. You vill see 'im? Yes? You vill 'old 'is
'and ven he do die? He sall have one friend to kiss his poor _front_?
Oh, I am content; I am gay."

How long he would have gone on thus it is hard to say. Mr Armstrong
cut short the scene rather abruptly.

"There, there!" said he. "Good-bye, Gustav. I shall go very soon, and
will come and see you when I return." And he went back to the
performance.

"You've missed it!" said Tom, as he dropped into his seat. "It was the
finest `break-down' you ever saw! That one next but one to Bones kept
it up best. We couldn't get an encore out of them. Never mind; perhaps
they'll have another to finish up. There's lot's more in the
programme."

Mr Armstrong watched it all with the same critical interest as before,
but his mind was far away. It wandered to the foreign city, to the
gaunt pauper hospital there, to a little low bed where lay an old dying
friendless man, tossing and moaning for the laggard death to give him
rest. He saw nothing of what went on before him; he felt none of the
merry boy's nudges at his side; he even forgot Roger and Maxfield.

The performance was over at last.

"Well, that _was_ a jolly spree! I wish it was coming all over again,"
chirped the boy. "Oh, thank you awfully, Mr Armstrong, for bringing
me. Did you like it too? That last break-down wasn't up to the other,
but I'm glad you've seen one of them, at any rate."

As they crowded out, Mr Armstrong was surprised and a little vexed to
see Gustav still hanging about the lobby waiting for him. He drop