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Show iMHMHiM4inaiijM-UMniMMMaMMa-i-H---u lie looked at him in speechless surprise. sur-prise. The boy, young as he was, realized the suspicion with which he was regarded. re-garded. "Please, sur!" ho exclaimed, cagerlj "I wuz goin' tcr de hum, nn' I found .liiiimic here, see nn' .linimie wuzbiek, be wu. cry iu,' an' I guv him do dime, and tole 'em tcr go lor de hum." Tho man looked sternly ntliitn and still made no remarks. '"Deed, nur, it's true, dead true. See here's Jim-mic's Jim-mic's coat; he left it fur me and 1 wuzu't hungry, an' he nin't had noth-in' noth-in' ter cat all day." lie unwrapped a ragged old coat from about his bare logs and held it up in triumph. " 'Deed, sur, ye kin go uii" nrc.M "Here, you young reprobate, how far is it to that- home you talk about ?" "Just down (lore two blojfcn. sur." "Hero is a quarter Avhich I think ill enable you to take all the houseless people you may meet on. the way, and also yourself, to the home. Now run. and do not let the. fact of your having had one dinner debar you from evoi enting another. Iteinomber, I will sor you and Jimmie in tho morning." The young man resumed his struggle through tho snow. Tho night had lost all its terrors for him. His mind absorbed ab-sorbed in the whirl of ideas .set in action ac-tion by this second meeting, left him unconscious of the elements. Hi-thought Hi-thought only of the light and happiness those few pennies had brought out o the Htonn and darkness, and toon- w ho hnd long been iu the habit of squandering squander-ing large sums iu pleasures that did not pleiwe and amusements that did not nmusc it was a revelation. Suddenly he stopped. His face turned unconsciously upward, as though he was seeking some ray of light out of the blackness of ' the heavens. For one moment ho stood so; then his hands wont deeper into his pockets, and his arms came rer to his sides, in he started nhciid again, with the quick and tirm step of sudden determination. Had he a gleam of light? For what was ho indebted to that midnight waif? For what would thafi midnight wair bo indebted to him? Homo Journal. |