trust me. I shall get into the spirit of the scheme very nicely."

"What kind of a boy is he, any way? Pretty clear-headed?"

"Well, yes, middling; but as obstinate as a mule. When he gets his
mind set on a thing, it's no use to try to budge him. I've whipped him
till he was black and blue, and it didn't do a penny's worth of good."

"You should have used moral suasion, Craft; that's the way to treat
boys. Get their confidence, and then you can handle them. Well, we'll
get Ralph's mind fixed on the fact that he is Mrs. Burnham's son, and
see how he'll stick to that. Hark! There they come now. Sooner than I
expected."

The outer door of the office was opened, and Ralph and the young man
entered. The messenger disappeared into the inner room, but after a
minute or two he came out and ushered Ralph into the presence of the
lawyer. Sharpman arose, greeted the boy pleasantly and shook hands
with him, and Ralph thought that lawyers were not such forbidding
people after all.

"Do you recognize this gentleman?" said Sharpman, turning, with a wave
of his hand, toward old Simon.

The old man was sitting there with his hands crossed on his cane, and
with a grim smile on his gaunt face. Ralph looked intently, for a
moment, into the shadow, and then, with an exclamation of surprise and
fear on his lips, he stepped back toward the door.

"I won't go!" he cried; "don't make me go back with him, sir!" turning