"That's my name," responded Billy, rising from his chair.

"And are you Ralph?" asked the young man, turning to the boy.

"Yes, sir, that's my name, too," was the quick reply.

"Well, Ralph, can you take a little walk with me this evening, as far
as Lawyer Sharpman's office?"

"Wha' for do ye want the lad?" asked Billy, advancing and placing a
chair for the stranger to sit in.

"Well, to speak confidentially, I believe it's something about his
parentage."

"Who his father an' mother waur?"

"Yes."

"Then he s'all go wi' ye if he like. Ralph, ye can put on the new
jacket an' go wi' the mon."

The boy's heart beat tumultuously as he hurried on his best clothes.

At last! at last he was to know. Some one had found him out. He was no
longer "nobody's child."

He struggled into his Sunday coat, pulled his cap on his head, and,
in less than ten minutes he was out on the road with the messenger,
hurrying through the frosty air and the bright moonlight, toward