“‘No,’ I told him, ‘but if I’m there maybe somebody else’ll find out something from passing me in the street.’ “‘That’s an idea, sure enough,’ he said, so I started for Philadelphia, and that’s how I came to fall in with Rex.” Miles finished his story with this word. It almost seemed as if he had done it on purpose, planning for it, as it were. He always spoke the name with a little pause before it, as if it were something sacred. Rex had told him to call him by it the day before when he had started in to address him as “Mr. Pell.” All of Reginald’s striving after premature manhood had been left in that past which preceded his experiences in the hotel at New York. CHAPTER XXVI IN WINTER DAYS Miles’s story had been listened to with the closest attention by all the little party. “It’s just like a chapter out of a book,” Florence whispered to Roy. “I wonder if he’ll ever find out who he really is?” “But how did you come by the name Harding?” Roy inquired. “Weren’t you Miles Morrisey once?” “Yes, but when they went away, and I got to having such hard knocks from the world, I didn’t want to drag the name down with me, and so I thought Harding would suit me pretty well, and took it.” Rex seemed inclined to grow excited over the theme, so Mrs. Raynor proposed an immediate adjournment. “To-morrow is Sunday,” she said, “and Miles can have a long day with you.” In the course of this long day, the wanderer told Roy why he had been so drawn to Rex. “I’d seen lots of nice looking fellows like him,” he said, “but they always looked down on me and kind of kept off, as if they didn’t want me to touch them with my dirty clothes. But I had to touch Rex when he fell over, and he didn’t seem to mind it.” Rex flushed when Roy told him this. “I’m afraid I didn’t seem to mind because I was too far gone to mind anything,” he said. “But I do like Miles and would like to do all I can for him.” Roy returned home Monday morning, and Mrs. Pell went out to Rex that night. He improved rapidly, and within a fortnight was able to be moved to Philadelphia. It was pitiable to see the effect of the parting on Miles. The Raynors had found him very capable and were anxious to keep him. There was no reason why he should not stay, except his desire to be where Rex was, and his quixotic notion that he might meet his father or mother should he go to Philadelphia. “Keep a look out for me, Rex,” he said, “and if you hear of any position you think I could fill, let me know.” Rex promised, and after he got home told his mother that when she could make up her mind to completely forgive him for all he had done, he wished that she would think of something they could do for Miles.