, and call me Crazy Will? Go away, I say!"

"No, father, I will not go away! You must open the door! You _must_! I
have been hunting for you so long--ever since mother died and you
disappeared, and now that I have found you, we shall never separate
again. Open the door; do, please."

These words, spoken with an intensity which cannot be described, had
the necessary effect upon the poor, weak-minded man inside of the
garret room. Matt heard him move slowly toward the door, and then
heard the key turn in the lock. The next instant the door opened, and
the boy sprang into the room and caught his father around the neck.

"Oh, father, don't you know me?" he cried, with deep emotion. "It is
Matt, your only son!"

He looked his father steadily in the eyes, the tears meanwhile
coursing freely down his cheeks. Mr. Lincoln returned the gaze for a
moment, then the wild look died out of his eyes, and his breast heaved
and he gave a deep sob.

"Matt! Matt! It is really you! My son! my son!"

He caught the boy in his arms and hugged him to his breast, sobbing
the meanwhile like a little child. He spoke of his wife and her death,
of his lost money, and a hundred other things, and then, in the midst
of it all, threw up his arms and sank to the floor in a dead faint.

A less courageous boy than Matt would have been badly scared. But he
knew of these fainting spells, for his father had had them years
before and had always come out of them feeling weaker in body, it was
true, but always clearer in mind.

In one corner of the room lay an old mattress, and upon this he placed
his father's form. Then he opened the tightly-closed window and began
to bathe his father's forehead with some water that stood in a cracked
pitcher near by.

Two of the girls that had told him about Crazy Will had followed him
up the tenement stairs and were now standing outside of the
garret-room door, staring at all that was going on. Matt called them
in.

"Do either of you want to earn twenty-five cents?" he asked.

"What doin'?" asked the older of the two girls promptly.

"I want you to deliver a message for me."

"Where to?"

Matt mentioned the auction store and described its location. The girl
said she knew where it was and would willingly take a message there.

"Don't yer want a doctor?" she asked.

"Not yet. You take this note and it will be all right. But you must
not lose a minute."

"I'll run all the way," replied the girl.

Taking o