"How many lots will it divide into?" "Twenty-five of the usual city dimensions." "Then I think I will take it off your hands. Part I will reserve for myself, and a part I will allot to a friend." "Can you pay me cash?" "Yes. I will make out a check at once." Mr. Bristol breathed a sigh of satisfaction. "I don't mind telling you," he said, "that I am very glad to realize on the investment. I have to meet a note for five hundred dollars in three days, and I was at a loss to know how to raise the money." "Then the transaction will be mutually satisfactory," rejoined Mr. Crawford. "Well, Andy," said his employer, when his customer left the office, "we are now Western land owners. I will draw up a note, which I will get you to sign, for a hundred and fifty dollars, and you can assign to me the money in the savings bank. I shall expect interest at the rate of six per cent." "I shall be very glad to pay it, sir." It was a satisfaction to Andy to think that he had made an investment which was likely ere many years to make him golden returns. He began to read with interest the accounts of the growth and development of the West, and decided to be unusually economical in the future, so as to be able to pay up the note due to Mr. Crawford, that he might feel that he owned his Western property without incumbrance. While Andy, as a rule, dressed neatly, there was one respect in which he did not win the approval of his neighbor, Sam Perkins. "I should think a boy with your income would be more particular about his neckties," said Sam. "What's the matter with my neckties, Sam? Are they not neat?" "Yes; but they are plain, such as a Quaker might wear. Why don't you get a showy tie, like mine?" Andy smiled as he noticed the gorgeous tie which his friend wore. "I don't like to be showy," he said. "You'll never attract the attention of the girls with such a plain tie as you wear. Now, when I walked on Fifth Avenue last Sunday afternoon, as many as twenty girls looked admiringly at my tie." "That would make me feel bashful, Sam." "Let me bring you one from the store like mine. You shall have it at the wholesale price." "No; I think not. It wouldn't be as becoming to me as to you. I don't want to be considered a dude." "I don't mind it. Next week I'm going to buy a pair of patent leathers. They will be really economical, as I shall not have to spend money on shines." One Saturday afternoon, when Andy was walking through one of the quiet streets west of Bleecker, his attention was drawn to a small boy, apparently about eleven years old, who was quietly crying as he walked along the sidewalk. He had never seen the boy before that he could remember, yet his face wore a familiar expression. CHAPTER XXV. SQUIRE CARTER'S RELATIVES. Andy was kind-hearted, and the boy's evident sorrow appealed to him. He went forward and placed his hand on the boy's shoulder. "What is the matter?" he asked.