future; while, for the rest, he was confident that before his
mother's little capital became exhausted he would have found means to
replenish it. He spent with her the remainder of the day upon which he
had interviewed the skipper of the _Concordia_, and practically the
whole of that which succeeded it, finally bidding her farewell about six
o'clock in the evening, in order that he might spend the remainder of
the day with Humphreys, with whom he had still much of importance to
discuss.

Upon Dick's return to Number 19 Paradise Street he found the genial
Doctor so busily engaged in dispensing drugs and advice that the two had
time for little more than a mutual nod of greeting; but later on, when
the last patient had departed and business had been brought to a close
for the night, they sat down together for a chat over a cup of coffee
and--so far as Humphreys was concerned--a pipe. Dick had not yet taken
to tobacco, and Humphreys, although an inveterate smoker himself, so far
from urging his young friend to adopt the habit, had strongly dissuaded
him from having anything to do with the weed, at least until he had
reached his twenty-first birthday, learnedly descanting upon the
injurious effects of nicotine upon the immature constitution, and
incidentally warning him to eschew narcotics generally, which, he
insisted, were always injurious, and only to be resorted to, even
medically, when it became a choice between a narcotic and some greater
evil.

"Well, my boy," remarked the Doctor, when they were at length
comfortably settled in their respective chairs, "so you have parted with
your mother. I hope you were able to cheer the poor lady and reconcile
her to the separation. It is of course very hard upon her that at her
time of life she should be left absolutely alone, but necessity is a
pitiless jade, exacting her tribute of sorrow and suffering from all
alike, from the monarch to the pauper, and when she lays her hand upon
us there is no escape. But do not allow anxiety on behalf of your dear
mother to worry you for a moment, lad, for I have promised to keep an
eye upon her, and, as you know, I am a man of my word, and no harm shall
befall her so long as I have the power to avert it. No, don't thank me,
Dick, there is no need; the satisfaction and pleasure that I shall
derive from helping your dear mother will be reward enough for me, for I
regard her as a personal friend, and shall consider it a privilege to be