nts for the accommodation."

"But you might not pay me," said the old woman cautiously, "and it would
kill me to lose three dollars."

Mark wanted to laugh, but felt that it would not do.

"There isn't any danger," he said. "I get two weeks' pay on Saturday. It
will be as much as nine dollars, so you see you are sure of getting back
your money."

"I--I don't know. I am afraid."

"What are you afraid of?"

"You might get run over by the horse cars, or a truck, and then you
couldn't get your money."

"I will be careful for your sake, Mrs. Mack," said Mark good-humoredly.
"You'll get your money back, and twenty-five cents more."

The old woman's face was a study--between avarice on the one hand and
timidity on the other.

"I--I'm afraid," she said.

She rocked to and fro in her chair in her mental perturbation, and Mark
saw that his errand was a failure.

"If you change your mind, let me know," he said.

As he reached the foot of the stairs he was treated to a surprise. There
just in front of his mother's door stood Solon Talbot and Edgar.

CHAPTER III.

AN UNEXPECTED CALL.

"In what room does your mother live?" asked Solon Talbot.

"This is our home," said Mark, proceeding to open the door.

Edgar Talbot sniffed contemptuously.

"I don't see how you can live in such a mean place," he remarked.

"It is not a matter of choice," returned Mark gravely. "We have to live
in a cheap tenement."

By this time the door was opened.

"Mother," said Mark, preceding the two visitors, "here are Uncle Solon
and Edgar come to call on you."

Mrs. Mason's pale cheek flushed, partly with mortification at her humble
surroundings, for when she first knew Solon Talbot he was only a clerk,
as she had said, and she was a society belle.

There was another feeling also. She had a strong suspicion that her
brother-in-law had defrauded her of her share in her father's estate.

"I am glad to see you, Mr. Talbot," she said, extending her hand. "And
this is Edgar! How you have grown, Edgar."

"Yes, ma'am," responded Edgar stiffly.

Both Mrs. Mason and Mark noticed that he did not call her "aunt." Her
nephew's coldness chilled her.

"I am sorry to see you in such a poor place," she said, smiling faintly.

"I suppose rents are high in New York," said Solon Talbot awkwardly.

"Yes, and our means are small. How is my sister Mary?"

"Quite well, thank you."

"Did she send me any message?"

"She did not know I