"The circumstances are changed. He will no longer be in an inferior position." "I don't understand." "As my son, he will take precedence of you," said Mrs. Lane, with a triumphant smile. "But the money belonged to my father." "It belongs to me, now," said his stepmother, sharply. Gerald was thunderstruck. It was not enough that his stepmother should appropriate the property which he felt ought properly to be his, but this unknown boy whom he had not yet seen, and of whose existence he thought it not improbable that his father had been ignorant, was to be invested with a right superior to his own. He remained silent for a moment. Then he said: "I hope Abel and I will be friends." "It will be wise for you to treat him well," said his stepmother. "When do you expect him here?" "Some time this afternoon." "Have you any more to say to me?" "Not at present." Gerald rose slowly and left the house. He felt crushed and humiliated. He felt that his stepmother had the upper hand. He remembered well the day, only two years before, when Mrs. Ruth Tyler entered their home as his father's wife. She had come to Portville and opened a milliner's shop on a very small scale. She attended the same church as his father, and in a short time managed to make his acquaintance. She consulted him on business matters, and exerted herself to please him. Finally, marriage followed. During his father's life Gerald had no fault to find with her treatment of him, but since the funeral she had thrown off the mask. Gerald could only think of her as one who had defrauded him of his rightful inheritance. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CHAPTER II MR. TUBBS, THE GROCER GERALD was so disturbed by the communication which his stepmother had made that he walked at random, hardly knowing in what direction he was going. Before he was well aware of it, he found himself passing the grocery store in which, according to Mrs. Lane's plans, he was to find employment. Raising his eyes he saw Mr. Tubbs standing in the doorway. The grocer was a short, stout man, not over five feet four inches in height and weighing well on to two hundred pounds. His features relaxed into a smile as he recognized Gerald. "Come here, Gerald," he said. Gerald paused, and as he looked into the grocery store with its sanded floor, barrels of flour, and boxes of potatoes, with the dried codfish hanging against the wall, his heart sank within him. He was not afraid of work, but to work in such a place and with such surroundings seemed to him dismal indeed. "Then you are coming to work for me?" said Mr. Tubbs smiling broadly. "Hasn't your mother told you?" "My stepmother mentioned it this morning," said Gerald, gravely. "We made the bargain last week. You'll get good pay, too. Three dollars a week. I never paid so much before, but I expect you will earn it. You look like a good, strong boy."