"Yes, suh," assented the legatee obediently. "I'll do jest ez you say, Judge Priest, about the clothes and the shoes, and all that; but--but, ef you don't mind, I'd like to go on livin' at Gafford's. Pete Gafford's been mighty good to me--him and his wife both; and I wouldn't like fur 'em to think I was gittin' stuck up jest because I've had this here streak of luck come to me. Mebbe, seein' ez how things has changed with me, they'd be willin' to take me in fur a table boarder at their house; but I shorely would hate to give up livin' in that there little room behind the feed room at the liver' stable. I don't know ez I could ever find any place that would seem ez homelike to me ez whut it is." "Suit yourself about that," said Judge Priest heartily. "I don't know but whut you've got the proper notion about it after all." "Yes, suh. Them Gaffords have been purty nigh the only real true friends I ever had that I could count on." He hesitated a moment. "I reckin--I reckin, suh, it'll be a right smart while, won't it, before that money gits here frum all the way acrost the ocean?" "Why, yes; I imagine it will. Was you figurin' on investin' a little of it now?" "Yes, suh; I was." "About how much did you think of spendin' fur a beginnin'?" O'Day squinted his eyes, his lips moving in silent calculation. "Well, suh," he said at length, "I could use ez much ez a silver dollar. But, of course, sence----" "That sounds kind of moderate to me," broke in Judge Priest. He shoved a pudgy hand into a pocket of his white trousers. "I reckin this detail kin be arranged. Here, Peep"--he extended his hand--"here's your dollar." Then, as the other drew back, stammering a refusal, he hastily added: "No, no, no; go ahead and take it--it's yours. I'm jest advancin' it to you out of whut'll be comin' to you shortly. "I'll tell you whut: Until sech time ez you are in position to draw on your own funds you jest drap in here to see me when you're in need of cash, and I'll try to let you have whut you require--in reason. I'll keep a proper reckinin' of whut you git and you kin pay me back ez soon ez your inheritance is put into your hands. "One thing more," he added as the heir, having thanked him, was making his grateful adieu at the threshold: "Now that you're wealthy, or about to be so, I kind of imagine quite a passel of fellers will suddenly discover themselves strangely and affectionately drawed toward you. You're liable to find out you've always had more true and devoted friends in this community than whut you ever imagined to be the case before.