n the country, where you had a comfortable home?"

"In the poorhouse," murmured the old man, sadly.

"Well, it's no worse for being a poorhouse, is it?"

"But is it right for me to live there when you are rich and
prosperous?"

"How do you know I am rich and prosperous?"

"By your dress. And there's a diamond in your shirt bosom. That must be
valuable."

"It's about all I own that is valuable. It was a fool's errand that
brought you here. You had better go back," and Ralston prepared to go
on.

"Won't you give me a trifle, Dick?"

"Well, take that."

"A quarter?"

"Yes; it will give you some supper."

"But what shall I do for a bed?"

"Go to the station house. They'll take in an old man like you."

Before the aged man could renew his application the younger one had
disappeared round the corner of the next street.

"Follow me, Chester," said Paul Perkins. "I'm going to speak to the old
man."

He touched him on the shoulder.

"Are you in trouble, my friend?" he asked.

The old man, looking the picture of despondency in his ragged suit, and
with his long, gray locks floating over his shoulders, turned at the
words.

"Yes, sir," he said, "I am poor and in trouble, and my heart is sore."

"Is the man who has just left you related to you?"

"He is my only son."

"He doesn't seem kind to you."

"No; he cares nothing for his old father."

"How did you become so poor?"

"He is the cause. When he was turned twenty-one I was worth ten
thousand dollars. He forged my name, more than once, and to save him I
paid the forged notes. So it happened that I was turned out in my old
age from the farm and the home that had been mine for twenty-five
years, and in the end I was sent to the poorhouse."

"Then he brought all this upon you?"

"Yes."

"Do you know what he is now?"

"He tells me he is in business."

"His business is carried on at the gambling house, so my young friend
here assures me. You will get no help from him."

"I begin to think so. Perhaps I was foolish to leave my home, poor as
it was, and come here to ask help."

"How much money will take you home?"

"Two dollars."

"Here is a ten-dollar bill. Take it, get a meal and a night's lodging
and in the morning start for home. It is the best thing you can do. As
for your son, you can only leave him to his own devices. A man who will
treat his old father as he has treated you will never prosper."

"Thank you, sir. I will follow your a