"I've made more than that, mother. Just wait a minute, till I've
reckoned up a little. Where's Jimmy?"

"Miss Beckwith offered to take him out to walk with her, so I let him
go. He'll be back at twelve."

While Paul is making a calculation, a few words of explanation and
description may be given, so that the reader may understand better how
he is situated.

The rooms occupied by Paul and his mother were three in number. The
largest one was about fourteen feet square, and was lighted by two
windows. It was covered with a neat, though well-worn, carpet; a few
cane-bottomed chairs were ranged at the windows, and on each side of the
table. There was a French clock on the mantel, a rocking chair for his
mother, and a few inexpensive engravings hung upon the walls. There was
a hanging bookcase containing two shelves, filled with books, partly
school books, supplemented by a few miscellaneous books, such as
"Robinson Crusoe," "Pilgrim's Progress," a volume of "Poetical
Selections," an odd volume of Scott, and several others. Out of the main
room opened two narrow chambers, both together of about the same area as
the main room. One of these was occupied by Paul and Jimmy, the other by
his mother.

Those who are familiar with the construction of a New York
tenement-house will readily understand the appearance of the rooms into
which we have introduced them. It must, however, be explained that few
similar apartments are found so well furnished. Carpets are not very
common in tenement-houses, and if there are any pictures, they are
usually the cheapest prints. Wooden chairs, and generally every object