ldom seen any person eat with his knife.

"Lit me speak plainly, for 'tis a plain man I am," said the Irishman.
"This boy whom ye call nephew----?"

"And he is," Sorber said.

"Aye. But he has another side to him that has no Sorber to it. 'Tis the
O'Neil side. It's what has set him at his books till he is the foinest
scholar in the Milton Schools, bar none. Mr. Marks told me himself 'twas
so."

This surprised Neale and the girls for they had not known how deep was
the Irishman's interest in his protege.

"He's only half a Sorber, sir. Ye grant that?"

"But he's been with the show since he was born," growled the showman.
"Why shouldn't he want to be a showman, too? All the Sorbers have been,
since away back. I was thinkin' of changing his name by law so as to
have him in the family in earnest."

"I'll never own to any name but my own again," declared Neale, from
across the table.

"That's your answer, Mr. Sorber," declared Murphy, earnestly. "The boy
wants to go his own way--and that's the way of his fathers, belike. But
I'm a fair man. I can see 'tis a loss to you if Neale stays here and
goes to school."

"I guess it is, Mister," said the showman, rather belligerently. "And I
guess you don't know how much of a loss."

"Well," said the cobbler, coolly. "Put a figure to it. How much?"

"How much _what_?" demanded Mr. Sorber, bending his brows upon the
Irishman, while the children waited breathlessly.

"Money. Neale's a big drawin' kyard ye say yerself. Then, how much money
will ye take for your right to him?"

Mr. Sorber laid down his knife and fork and stared at Mr. Murphy.

"Do you mean that, sir?" he asked, with strange quietness.

"Do I mean am I willin' to pay the bye out of yer clutches?" demanded
the cobbler, with growing heat. "'Deed and I am! and if my pile isn't
big enough, mebbe I kin find good friends of Neale O'Neil in this town
that'll be glad to chip in wid me and give the bye his chance.

"I've been layin' a bit av money by, from year to year--God knows why!
for I haven't chick nor child in the wor-r-rld. Save the bit to kape me
from the potter's field and to pay for sayin' a mass for me sowl, what
do the likes of _me_ want wid hoardin' gold and silver?

"I'll buy a boy. I have no son of me own. I'll see if Neale shall not do
me proud in the years to come--God bliss the bye!"

He seized the boy's hand and wrung it hard. "Oh, Mr. Murphy!" murmured
Neale O'Neil and returned the pressure