Graham pay you for your services?"

"Three dollars a week."

"That was not--excuse the question--all you and your mother had to
depend upon, was it?"

"Not quite; mother receives a pension of eight dollars per month."

"Five dollars a week altogether--that is very little."

"It is only two dollars now, sir."

"True; but you have health and strength, and those will bring money.
In one respect you are more fortunate than I. You have a mother--I
have neither father nor mother."

"I'm sorry for you, sir."

"Thank you; anyone is to be pitied who has lost his parents. Now, as
I have asked about your affairs, it is only fair that I should tell
you about myself. To begin with, I am rich. Don't look envious, for
there is something to counterbalance. I am of feeble constitution,
and the doctors say that my lungs are affected. I have studied law,
but the state of my health has obliged me to give up, for the
present at least, the practice of my profession."

"But if you are rich you do not need to practice," said Herbert, who
may be excused for still thinking his companion's lot a happy one.