pathy.

"Come, come, old fellow, eat and drink. He's safe enough inside. You
know well, you rascal, that he _is_ inside!"

Bob blinked confidingly, but he would not touch the food which stood
alluringly near at hand in a shining tin plate.

Sandy had recovered from his faint, but he was strangely weak and an
inner stillness bound him speechless and immovable. He lay
there--thinking, thinking! He knew a woman was beside him watching his
every breath; he heard Bob outside and the sternly kind voice talking
to him. But nothing mattered. Yes, one thing did matter. The money
was in his pocket and Massachusetts was still in the near future!

Miss Matilda, by the process known only to her sex, had labelled and
classified the boy on the sofa.

"He's what these shiftless negroes call quality," she pondered.
"Filthy and worn to the bone as he is--he is quality or I miss my
guess! Now what on earth has brought him to this pass?"

The lids were drawn close over Sandy's eyes; his thin face was pinched
and wan, and the tan had faded mysteriously from the smooth skin. A
dignity rested on brow and mouth, and the work-stained, folded hands
were delicate and full of character. Sandford Morley had come to the
parting of the ways and he had resigned himself to the inevitable. His
helplessness put forth an appeal that reached through his sordid misery
to the emotions of Matilda Markham. She adored boys--they were her one
enthusiasm but, like her brother, the more she felt the less she
permitted herself to show. "She knew her duty"--none better; "but she
did not intend to have her feelings joggled in the broad light of day
for curious folks to witness!"

So she watched Sandy now with her heart painfully in evidence.

"There's a bruise on his left cheek," mused Miss Matilda; "like as not
he hit it against something." It was the effect of the last blow Mary
Morley was ever to deal him, but of course the watcher in the orderly
cottage could not imagine so outrageous a thing as that.

"He's got real nice hair if it wasn't so matted. I daresay it would
curl if it had half a chance." Justice called for pity and protection,
and while waiting to see what was best to do next, Matilda heeded
inspiration.

"You awake?" she whispered. Sandy gave a weak nod. "Want something to
eat? No? A drink of water, maybe? No? Very well, lie still and drop
off to sleep again. You'll feel better presently, and can tell us
about yours