"As rich as me?" echoed Andy. "Shure, doctor, you're jokin'." "Not at all." "Why, I haven't got but seventy-five cents in the world." "Now it's you that are joking, Andy." "I wish I was," sighed Andy. "Why, I had it on good authority that you were worth five thousand dollars." Andy stared in earnest. "I see you're laughin' at me, doctor," he said, suspecting that Dr. Townley was making game of him. "No, I am not. I am in earnest." "Who told you such a big falsehood as that, now?" asked our hero, bewildered. "Perhaps I dreamed that somebody told me Colonel Preston had left you five thousand dollars in his will." "Are you jokin'? Is it true?" asked Andy, eagerly, something in the doctor's face telling him that he really meant what he said. "Maybe I dreamed, too, that the colonel left your mother the house she used to live in." "Is it true, doctor? Tell me, quick!" said Andy, trembling with excitement. "Yes, my boy, it's all true, and I'm glad to be the first to congratulate you on your good fortune." He held out his hand, which our hero seized, and then, unable to repress his exultation, threw up his cap to the ceiling and indulged in an extempore dance, the doctor meanwhile looking on with benevolent gratification. "Excuse me, doctor; I couldn't help it," he panted. "It's all right, Andy. Are you discouraged now?" "Divil a bit, doctor. It's wild I am with joy." "And you don't think of starving yet, eh, Andy?" "I'll wait a bit. But why didn't I know before?" "Sit down, and I'll tell you all about it." So Andy heard the account, which need not be repeated. "Now," continued the doctor, "I'll tell you what plan I have for you. Mr. Graves wants to take a boy into his store who will buy an interest in the business and become his partner. He thinks well of you, and is willing to take you. What do you say?" "I'll do whatever you think best, doctor." "Then I think this is a good opening for you. Mr. Graves wants to retire from business before long. Probably by the time you are twenty-one he will leave everything in your hands. You will be paid weekly wages and perhaps be entitled to a portion of the profits--more than enough to support you all comfortably. What do you say? Shall we have a new firm in the village? "GRAVES & BURKE." Andy's eyes sparkled with proud anticipation. It was so far above any dream he had ever formed. "It's what I'd like above all things," he said. "Oh, what will mother say? I must go and tell her." "Go, by all means, Andy, and when you have told her, come back, and I'll go over with you to Mr. Graves' store, and we'll talk over the arrangements with him."