No father, no mother, no
friends. Never been to school. What's home? Knows a broom's a broom, and
knows it's wicked to tell a lie. Don't recollect who told him about the
broom or about the lie, but knows both. Can't exactly say what'll be done
to him after he's dead if he tells a lie to the gentleman here, but
believes it'll be something wery bad to punish him, and so he'll tell the
truth. "He wos wery good to me, he wos," added the boy, wiping his eyes
with his wretched sleeves. "When I see him a-laying so stritched out just
now, I wished he could have heerd me tell him so. He wos wery good to me,
he wos."

The jury award their verdict of accidental death, and the stranger is
hurried into a pine box and into an obscure corner of that great home for
the friendless and unmourned,--the Potter's field,--and night falls,
hiding from sight the new-made grave.

With the night comes a slouching figure through the tunnel court, to the
outside of the iron gate of the Potter's field. It holds the gate with its
hands, and looks in between the bars. Stands looking in for a little
while. It then takes an old broom it carries, softly sweeps the step, and
makes the archway clean. It does so very busily and trimly; looks in again
a little while, and so departs.

Jo, is it thou? Well, well?

Though thou art neither a gentleman nor the son of a gentleman, there is
an expression of gratitude and of loyalty, worthy of gentle blood,
indicative of noble character, in thy muttered reason for this:----

"He wos wery good to me, he wos."

Once more without a friend, Jo sweeps his crossing day after day. Before
the stranger came into his life, he had drifted along in his accustomed
place, more unreasoning than an intelligent dog; but the hand of a human
comrade had been laid in his, and it had awakened his humanity; and now as
he sweeps he thinks--about the stranger--wonders where he has gone to, and
how he died.

As it seemed to Jo that the world was bounded on all sides by the events
in Tom-all-Alone's, he was not at all surprised one day to have another
stranger come to his crossing and ask him many questions concerning the
dead man. He was glad to talk of him, to tell again all that he knew of
his life and death, and to show where they had buried him. The interview
over, Jo is overwhelmed to find his hand closed over a piece of money
larger than he has ever owned before.

His first proceeding is to hold the piece of money to the ga