o, mother. I think I will call round in the morning and inquire. He
has already been away more than a year."

When Paul entered Mr. Preston's counting-room the next morning that
gentleman looked up from his desk, and said, "I was just about to
write you a letter, Paul."

"Indeed, sir."

"Yes; I am in receipt of a letter from Mr. Talbot, in which he
announces his immediate return home. He will be here in four weeks,
and he desires your mother to engage women to clean the house
thoroughly, and put it in order for his occupation. Of course, you
will keep an account of all you have to expend in this way, and you
can hand me the bill."

"Yes, sir. I will see that it is done."

Paul heard, with some regret, of Mr. Talbot's speedy return. It would
curtail his income considerably. Still he felt that Mr. Talbot would
be satisfied with the manner in which his mother and himself had
acquitted themselves of their trust, and that was a source of
satisfaction.

He gave his mother immediate notice of the approaching return of Mr.
Talbot, and she began to look about for rooms to which to remove. At
length she found a very comfortable place at twenty dollars a month.
Half that sum would have obtained them shelter in a poor tenement
house, but both Paul and his mother had become fastidious, and felt
that such economy would be out of place. They must have a respectable
and comfortable home, even if they were prevented thereby from adding
so much to their account at the savings-bank.

At length the steamer in which the Talbots had taken passage arrived.
A coach brought them from the pier to the house. Mrs. Hoffman and Paul
were in waiting to receive them. Mrs. Talbot expressed herself pleased
with the neat appearance of the house, and Mr. Talbot called Paul
aside.

"My young friend," he said, "I deferred, till my return home, the
acknowledgment of your very creditable conduct in the defense of my
house. You showed a coolness and good judgment remarkable in one of
your age. In return for this, and in acknowledgment of the generally
satisfactory manner in which you and your mother have kept my house, I
ask your acceptance of this pocketbook, with its contents."

When Paul opened it he was astonished and delighted to find that it
contained two one-hundred dollar bills.

"One of them properly belongs to you, mother," he said. But Mrs.
Hoffman refused to take it.

"No, Paul," she said, "you are the treasurer of our little househo