Fixing his eyes on the sparrows who were disporting themselves among the budding elm-boughs, John plunged abruptly into his story, never once looking at his hearer and speaking so rapidly that he was rather red and breathless when he got through. "You see, Jack was plodding along after a fashion all by himself, his people being dead, when an old friend of his father's took it into his head to say, 'Come and be a son to me, and I'll leave you a handsome fortune when I die.' A capital thing it seemed, and Jack accepted, of course. But he soon found that he had given up his liberty, and was a slave to a very tyrannical master, who claimed him soul and body, heart and mind. That didn't suit Jack, and he would have broken away; but, as you say, he was 'tired of being poor, and wanted a little ease and pleasure in his life.' The old man was failing, and the money would soon be his, so he held on, till he suddenly discovered that this fortune for which he was waiting was not honest money, but, like many another great fortune, had been ground out of the poor, swindled out of honest men, or stolen from trusting friends, and hoarded up for a long lifetime, to be left to Jack with the curse of dishonesty upon it. Would you advise him to take it?" "No," answered the girl, without a moment's hesitation. "Well, he didn't, but turned his back on the ill-gotten money, and went to work again with clean but empty hands," added John, still looking away, though his face wore a curiously excited expression under its enforced composure. "I'm glad, very glad he did! Wasn't it noble of him?" asked Dolly, full of admiring interest in this unknown Jack. "It was very hard; for you see he loved somebody, and stood a poor chance of winning her without a penny in his pocket." "All the nobler in him then; and, if she was worth winning, she'd love him the more for the sacrifice," said Dolly, warmly; for the romance of the story took her fancy, though it was poorly told. "Think so? I'll mention that to Jack: it will cheer him up immensely, for he's afraid to try his fate with nothing to offer but his earnings." "What's his business?" asked Dolly suddenly. "Connected with newspapers,--fair salary, good prospects,--not ashamed to work," answered John, staring hard at the sparrows, and wiping his forehead, as if he found the bleak day getting too warm for him. "Is the girl pretty?" "The most captivating little creature I ever beheld!" cried John, rapturously. "Oh, indeed," and Dolly glanced at him sharply, while a shadow passed over her face, as she asked with redoubled interest, "Is she rich?" "Has nothing but her sweet face and good name I believe." "Isn't that enough?"