your identity beyond question; but we shall have to do it in
the courts. When it is once done no one can prevent you from taking
the name and the property to which you are entitled and using them as
you see fit."

"But my mother!" said Ralph, anxiously, "my mother; she's all I care
about; I don't want the property if I can't have her."

"And you shall have her, my boy. Mrs. Burnham said to me this morning,
that, until your claim was duly proved in a court of law, she would
have no legal right to accept you as her son; but that, when your
identity is once established in that way, she will receive you into
her home and her heart with much joy."

Ralph looked up with brightening eyes.

"Did she say that?" he exclaimed, "an' will she do it?"

"I have no doubt of it, none whatever."

"Then let's get at it right away," said the boy, impatiently, "it
won't take very long, will it?"

"Oh! some little time; several months, may be; may be longer."

Ralph's face fell again.

"I can't wait that long!" he exclaimed; "I'll go to her myself; I'll
tell her ev'rything; I'll beg her to take me. Do you think she would?
do you?"

"Oh, Ralph! now be reasonable. That would never do. In the first
place, it would be useless. She has seen you, she knows you; she says
you are not her son; you can't prove it to her. Besides that, she has
no legal right to take you as her son until the courts have passed
upon the question of your identity. If she should attempt to do so,
the other heirs of Robert Burnham would come in and contest your
claim, and you would be in a far worse position to maintain your
rights than you are now,--oh! far worse. No, you must not go to Mrs.
Burnham, you must not go to her at all, until your sonship is fully
established. You must keep cool, and wait patiently, or you will
destroy every chance you have."

"Well, then, I'll try to; I'll try to wait an' do what you tell me to;
what shall I do first?"

"The first thing to be done, Ralph, is to have the court appoint a
guardian for you. You can't do anything for yourself, legally, you
know, till you are twenty-one years old; and whatever action is taken
in your behalf, must be taken by a guardian. It will be his place to
establish your identity, to restore you to your mother, and to take
care of your property. Now, who would you prefer to have act in that
capacity?"

"Well, I don't know; there's Uncle Billy, he's the best friend I've
got; wouldn't he do?"

"