The man had not once stirred during this recital. His eyes had been
fixed on the boy's face, and he had listened with intense interest.

"Well, Ralph," he said, "that is indeed a strange story. And is that
all you know about yourself? Have you no clew to your parentage or
birthplace?"

"No, sir; not any. That's what I want to find out when I git money
enough."

"How much money have you now?"

"About nine dollars, countin' what I'll save from nex' pay day."

"And how do you propose to proceed when you have money enough?"

"Hire a lawyer to 'vestigate. The lawyer he keeps half the money, an'
gives the other half of it to a 'tective, an' then the 'tective, he
finds out all about you. Uncle Billy says that's the way. He says if
you git a good smart lawyer you can find out 'most anything."

"And suppose you should find your parents, and they should be rich and
give you a great deal of money, how would you spend it?"

"Well, I don't know; I'd give a lot of it to Uncle Billy, I guess,
an' some to Widow Maloney, an'--an' I'd go to the circus, an'--but I
wouldn't care so much about the money, sir, if I could have folks like
other boys have. If I could only have a mother, that's what I want
worst, a mother to kiss me every day, an' be good to me that way, like