t on an old coat.

"Edward," said his wife, "this is Paul's mother, who was burned out
to-day. So I have asked her to stay here till she can find a place of
her own."

"That is right," said the policeman. "Mrs. Hoffman, I am glad to see
you. Paul has been here before. He is one of Sam's friends."

"Paul likes to keep in with father," said Sam slyly, "considering he
is on the police."

"If he is to be known by the company he keeps," said Mr. Norton, "he
might have to steer clear of you."

Here I may explain why Sam was a newsboy, though his father was in
receipt of a salary as a policeman. He attended school regularly, and
only spent about three hours daily in selling papers, but this gave
him two or three dollars a week, more than enough to buy his clothes.
The balance he was allowed to deposit in his own name at a
savings-bank. Thus he was accumulating a small fund of money, which by
and by might be of essential use to him.

The group that gathered around the supper-table was a lively one,
although half the party had been burned out. But Paul knew he was in a
position to provide a new home for his mother, and thus was saved
anxiety for the future.

"You have very pleasant rooms, Mrs. Norton," said Mrs. Hoffman.

"Yes, we have as good as we can afford. Twenty dollars a month is a
good deal for us to pay, but then we are comfortable, and that makes
us work more cheerfully."

"How do you like being a policeman, Mr. Norton?" asked Paul.

"I don't like it much, but it pays as well as anything I can get."

"I sometimes feel anxious about him," said Mrs. Norton. "He is liable
to be attacked by ruffians at any time. The day he came home with his
face covered with blood, I was frightened then, I can tell you."

"How did it happen?"

"I was called in to arrest a man who was beating his wife," said the
policeman. "He was raging with drink at the time. He seized one of his
wife's flatirons and threw it at me. It was a stunner. However, I
managed to arrest him, and had the satisfaction of knowing that he
would be kept in confinement for a few months. I have to deal with
some tough customers. A policeman down in this part of the city has to
take his life in his hand. He never knows when he's going to have a
stormy time."

"I wish my husband were in some other business," said Mrs. Norton.

"There are plenty of men that would like my position," said her
husband. "It's sure pay, and just as good in dull times as in g