"Oh, Uncle Billy! what _do_ you think? Guess who I am; guess!" "Why, lad, don't frighten a mon like that. Ye'll wake the neeborhood. Who be ye, then?" "Guess! guess! Oh, you'd never guess! I'm Ralph Burnham; I'm Mrs. Burnham's son!" Bachelor Billy's hands dropped lifelessly to his knees, his mouth and eyes came wide open with unfeigned astonishment, and, for the moment, he was speechless. Finally he found breath to exclaim: "Why, Ralph, lad; Ralph, ye're crazy,--or a-jokin'! Don't joke wi' a mon that way, Ralph; it ain't richt!" "No, but, Uncle Billy, it's true; it's all true! Ain't it splendid?" "Be ye sure o' that, Ralph? be ye sure o' it?" "Oh! they ain't no mistake about it; they couldn't be." "Well, the guid Lord save ye, lad!" and Billy looked the boy over carefully from head to foot, apparently to see if he had undergone any change during his absence. Then he continued: "Coom, sit ye, then; sit ye, an' tell us aboot it a'; how happenit it, eh?" Again they drew their chairs up before the replenished fire, and Ralph gave a full account of all that had occurred at the lawyer's office. By virtue of his own faith he inspired Bachelor Billy with equal confidence in the truth of the story; and, by virtue of his own enthusiasm, he kindled a blaze of enthusiasm in the man's heart that glowed with hardly less of brightness than that in his own. Very late that night they sat there, these two, talking of what the future held for Ralph; building bright castles for him, and high hopes, with happiness beyond measure. It was only when the fire burned out and left its charred coals in the iron grate-bars and on the hearth that they went to bed, the one to rest in the dreamless sleep that follows in the path of honest toil, and the other to wake often from his feverish slumber and stare down into the block of moonlight that fell across his bed through the half-curtained window of the room, and wonder whether he had just dreamed it all, or whether he had, indeed, at last, a birthright and a name. CHAPTER VII. RHYMING JOE. Ten days after the evening interview at Sharpman's office, Ralph received a message from the lawyer instructing him to be at the railroad station on the following morning, prepared to go to Wilkesbarre. So Bachelor Billy went alone that day to the breaker, and Ralph stayed behind to make ready for his journey. He dressed himself in his best clothes, brushed them carefully, put a little money in his pocket, and, long before the appointed hour, he was at the station, waiting for Sharpman.