Rex did not stop and throw up his hands as Roy had half expected he would do. He came closer to his brother and suddenly passed one arm about his neck as they walked on together and drew him close to him. “Oh, Roy,” he said, “we owe all this to you.” Then he walked off to the side of the road and dropped down on the grass. Roy came over to take his place beside him. “I didn’t want to say anything about it before,” he explained. “It might have been years before we came into the money. And now it may not be nearly so much as I said. We only have old Mr. Tyler’s word for it, but both Syd and Dr. Martin seemed to think he was telling the truth.” “Does mother know?” asked Rex in a low voice. He seemed to be quite changed since he had heard the wonderful news. His manner had become quiet, subdued, more like Roy’s. “No, nobody knows but you, and Syd and Dr. Martin.” “But you will tell mother as soon as you get back?” “Yes, I suppose I had better.” “I can’t realize it yet, Roy. Half a million! That’s five hundred thousand dollars. And now we live on an income of about two thousand!” Rex brought his eyes down from the sky where he had been allowing them to soar, and fixed them on his last summer’s tan shoes. They were whole yet, but had lost their freshness. He could have new ones now, he reflected, without waiting for these old ones to wear out. “How did he come to do it, Roy?” he went on, “Hasn’t he any relatives, or anybody of his own?” “I don’t know. Syd can tell you more about it than I can. Come, we had better be getting home.” The boys rose and resumed their walk. Presently Rex remarked: “When shall we get hold of the money, do you suppose, Roy?” “I don’t know. Don’t talk about it in that way. It seems awful.” “Why, Roy, one would think you wished we hadn’t got it. What makes you act so queer about the thing?” “Because the thing itself seems queer, I suppose.” “You are not sorry about it, are you? You almost act so.” “Oh, no, I’m not sorry, but I can’t seem to realize it yet.” “Well, I can, now I’ve had a little chance to get used to it. I can realize that it means a new tennis suit for me, unlimited pairs of shoes, horses and carriages and perhaps my trip to Canada with the Bowmans.” “Rex, don’t go on in that strain with the man still unburied. If you only knew how it sounds.” Reginald looked a little abashed, and as they reached a fork in the road just then, announced that he was going up in the town to see his friend Charlie Minturn. “Don’t tell him about this,” Roy begged. “What do you take me for?” returned Rex in his most dignified manner. He strode on up the hill, his head thrown back, his chin the least bit elevated in the air. “I’m afraid for Reggie,” murmured Roy as he kept on toward the Pellery. “Poverty didn’t suit him at all, but it seems to me riches are going to suit him too well.” The girls were hulling the strawberries on the side porch when he reached the house.