THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 FRONTISPIECE.
 
 ,R. 5S ENDLETOFS I UP, 
 
 A STORY FOR BOYS. 
 
 GLANCE GAYLORD, 
 
 AUTHOR OF "CULM ROCK," "GILBERT STARR," 3 
 
 
 BOSTON: 
 HENBY A. YOUNG & CO.,
 
 Ent- *.d according to Act of Congress, in the year 1869, by 
 
 HENRY A. YOUNG & CO., 
 In tiw Clerk's Office of the District Court of Massachusetts,
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 The Antiquary, -------- 9 
 
 CHAPTER -H. 
 A Journey after a Cup, - - - - - - -24 
 
 CHAPTER HI. 
 Two Friends, --------- 40 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 Finding a Treasure, - - -""- - - - -67 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 Joe's Temptation, -------- 74 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 A Fruitless Quest, --------91 
 
 CHAPTER VH. 
 Yielding to Temptation, ------ 108 
 
 CHAPTER Vin. 
 A Heavy Heart, - 125 
 
 622686
 
 Vlll CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 The Tempter Vanquished, - - - - - 143 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 Joe's Reward, ....... IQQ 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 A Prisoner, ---......178 
 
 CHAPTER Xn. 
 
 The Prisoner's Friends, ....... 196 
 
 CHAPTER XIH. 
 New Possessions, --...-.-214 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 Conclusion, ----..-..-332
 
 iENDLETON'S 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE ANTIQUARY. 
 
 . PENDLETON was an antiquary. 
 He delighted in everything od<J and 
 ancient. Yes, everything ! no 
 matter whether it came from home 
 or abroad so long as it savored of antiquity 
 it was dear unto his heart. Now the old gen- 
 tleman was nearing sixty, and began to look 
 quite gray and ancient himself; indeed, he 
 looked much older than most gentlemen of his 
 age, and this was the reason : All his life-time
 
 10 MR. PENDLETON'S CUP. 
 
 he had shut himself up among his books and 
 relics, and there had lived like a hermit. No 
 one ever came to see him, unless it were a few 
 old gentlemen of like tastes, and then they 
 were never merry or sociable, but sat all day 
 long in the caoinet shaking their wise heads 
 over some newly-discovered treasures, and 
 muttering to each other in whispers. He had 
 not a little friend in the world to make merry 
 with ; he never smiled or chatted, and so the 
 wrinkles in his face drew themselves down into 
 long, sober lines, that gave his features a 
 grave, stern aspect. I dare say that if you 
 had s%en him, you would have thought him a 
 . very cross-looking old gentleman. 
 
 Sometimes, in the dim, dim years that had 
 flown, Mr. Pendleton had had a little boy of 
 his own, and oh, what a precious little fellow 
 he was ! Bright eyes, sunny curls, quick, 
 merry little ways that wound themselves won- 
 derfully around the father's heart ; but one day
 
 THE ANTIQUARY. 11 
 
 Death carried away the mother and little boy, 
 and left the father all alone. Then it was that 
 he shut himself up iii the solitude of his great 
 house, and gre w to be a gray-headed, wrinkled, 
 stern old man, very, very different, I fancy, 
 than he would have been had that little boy 
 lived to brighten his father's days. 
 
 But in looking at the old gentleman you 
 would never suspect that any such thing had 
 ever occurred in his life-time. He had very 
 keen black eyes, that looked sharply out from 
 under a fringe of gray eye-brows ; and as they 
 had become somewhat dim in deciphering 
 old MSS., and puzzling over old script, he 
 wore a pair of great silver-rimmed spectacles, 
 through which he peered when he spoke, and 
 looked very wise and learned. He kept an 
 old housekeeper, who had grown gray in his 
 service, and who was quite as grave and silent 
 a personage as her master. In fact, she had 
 become so while in his employ, for with no one
 
 12 MR. PENDLETON'S CUP. 
 
 to talk to, and no one for company, how could 
 she help it ? I dare say she would once have 
 liked a cheerful chat and a smile as well as any 
 one ; but moving so long in the same silent, 
 monotonous round of duties, she had grown to 
 dislike a laugh and cheery talk most heartily. 
 She kept a great cat, who stalked about with 
 his mistress everywhere she went even to 
 the post-office, where she was obliged to go 
 daily after the old gentleman's letters and 
 papers. And thus these two elderly people 
 lived in this great, silent house ; a life which 
 we who love cheerfulness, and sunshine, 
 and bright companions would be apt to think 
 was most cheerless and desolate. But they 
 did not find it so. 
 
 Now all these long, long years, Mr. Pendle- 
 ton had been collecting and hoarding his 
 treasures. Very poor treasures some people 
 would have thought them, but to the antiquary 
 they were precious indeed! They filled four
 
 THE ANTIQUARY 13 
 
 spacious rooms, and such strange and wonder- 
 ful sights these rooms presented ! If I were to 
 write all day, I don't suppose I could tell you 
 half the queer things there were in them. 
 Through the dim light one might perceive tier 
 after tier of shelves which reached from floor 
 to ceiling, and all were laden with things 
 strange and curious. In all the angles^ and 
 over the doors and windows, hung dark and 
 time-stained paintings; clumps of dusty old 
 armor; swords that were rusty and had lost 
 ^heir glitter ; and spears and lances that were 
 hundreds of years old. So long had these 
 relics lain here, and so many had he accumu- 
 lated, that Mr. Pendleton himself could not tell . 
 all these shelves contained ; for year after year 
 he added to his stores, till they fairly tremble 1 
 and bent under their weight, and the memory 
 of no man was great enough to contain them. 
 And oh, the dust that had settled over all ! for 
 the old housekeeper was not allowed to disturb
 
 14 MR. PENDLETON'S CUP. 
 
 even the smallest of these treasures ; and so tho 
 dark dust gathered, and the spiders wove webs 
 in the corners to their hearts' content, and 
 altogether these rooms were so dirty and dingy, 
 that no one but a genuine antiquary could have 
 tolerated them. But Mr. Pendleton loved 
 dust it savored of age and antiquity and 
 so his^heart's serenity was disturbed not a whit. 
 His somber figure moved about in these dim 
 rooms quite in its element. And, if you care 
 at all about it, you shall know what some of 
 this antiquaiy's treasures were. 
 
 On these shelves, thick with dust, lay the 
 most beautiful Indian agates, spotted and 
 veined with crimson and azure, and shot 
 through with golden threads ; lumps of virgin 
 gold from far-off mines ; beautiful pink-lipped 
 shells, and mother-of-pearl ; curiously carved 
 boxes of some fragrant Eastern wood ; strings 
 of yellowish pearls that had once lain on a 
 princess's neck, and precious gems that gleamed 
 from out their dusty velvet bed.
 
 THE ANTIQUARY. 15 
 
 There were a whole row of dried, wizen- 
 faced Egyptian mummies, and a box of papyrus 
 rolls too old and withered to be deciphered. 
 Ancient pottery enough to stock a small 
 crockery-store, and a little fortune in old coins 
 and medals. Indian arrows and implements 
 were there in abundance, with gay head-dresses 
 and mantles of woven feathers. A stuffed owl 
 was perched on an ancient hemlet, and over- 
 looked the whole with eyes that fairly rivaled 
 Mr. Pendleton's for wise expression, and on 
 the floor a long-legged crane balanced himself 
 on a pedestal. Then there were old wigs, rare 
 laces, jewelled combs, ancient costumes, velvet 
 skull-caps, a very old harpsichord, and in the 
 darkest corner stood the full armor of a knight, 
 with arm out-stretched, as if he yet grasped 
 the battle-axe and were going to rush at you. 
 And as for such things as crystal cups, richly 
 cut old decanters, deeply-wrought vases and 
 marbles, the half is not to be told. From every
 
 16 MR. PENDLETON'S CUP. 
 
 clime, fr>m every nation, from all grades of 
 civilization, had the old gentleman gathered his 
 valuables, and here they were buried in th<j 
 dust and silence. I will only say more that a 
 king's snuff-box was there, also the skull of a 
 conqueror, and the rouge-box of a famous 
 beauty. 
 
 The only cheerful, cosey spot in the whole 
 house aside from the spotless little kitchen 
 where the old house-keeper presided was by 
 a sunny window in the cabinet, where the old 
 gentleman kept his books, and received his 
 brother-antiquarians. Here, for a wonder, 
 was one clear, clean -paned window, and as 
 there was no curtain, the sunbeams were at full 
 liberty to steal in and brighten everything with 
 their ruddy gold. And they did their work so 
 lavishly that the room was really pleasant. 
 Here were huge, leather-covered volumes 
 ranged around the wall, and the old gentleman 
 handled them quite often enough to keep them
 
 THE ANTIQUARY. 17 
 
 free of dust. Here, by the window-seat, was 
 his easy-chair, and before it stood a writing- 
 table heaped up with tumbled papers, old 
 letters, and dingy manuscripts. So full had it 
 become, that there was hardly room for pen 
 and ink-bottle. And on the wall, back of the 
 easy-chair, hung his hat and cloak, a cloak 
 that you would have thought he must have 
 rummaged out of some old garret, at least it 
 was so quaint and old-fashioned. But so long 
 had the old gentleman lived his hermit-like 
 life, that whenever he had occasion to go 
 abroad which was very rarely he was en- 
 tirely unconscious of the smiles which his 
 queerly-dressed figure provoked. In the dingy 
 and old-fashioned rooms where he dwelt, such 
 a dress was appropriate enough, but in the gay, 
 bustling, fashionably-attired street-crowd, ah, 
 that was entirely a different matter. 
 
 The old gentleman detested noise, and bus- 
 tle, and confusion most heartily, and fortunate-
 
 18 MR. PENDLETON'S CXJP. 
 
 ly for him his house fronted on one of tne 
 quietest streets in Darnleigh. The lumbering 
 omnibuses hardly ever entered the street; 
 there were but very few children to romp and 
 shout, and of a summer afternoon there were 
 generally no greater disturbance than the soft 
 cooing of the doves that flew down from the 
 house-tops to seek for food on the pavements. 
 
 And on this gray January afternoon, when 
 we shall first see the old antiquary, the street 
 was very peaceful and quiet. The snow lay . 
 in a thin covering over the cobble-stonesnot 
 enough of it for sleighing, and the air was too 
 chill and cold for it to melt. The sun had 
 been hidden in thick snow-clouds since noon, 
 and people had all deserted the street. 
 
 Mr. Pendleton sat in his easy-chair before 
 the window, with a great leather-covered vol- 
 ume open before him. It was a new acquisi- 
 tion, and I don't think he had once raised his 
 eyes from the yellow, time-stained pages, since
 
 THE ANTIQUARY. 19 
 
 he sat down after snatching a few hasty mouth- 
 fuls of dinner. He had not noticed the thick 
 gray clouds which threatened snow, nor that 
 the street was deserted. Page after page was 
 turned the afternoon waned and had not 
 his spectacles slid down upon his nose, he 
 would very likely have forgotten himself en- 
 tirely till darkness shut out the words before 
 him. 
 
 But as he re-adjusted his spectacles, some 
 sense of the stillness without touched him, and 
 he looked up. Gray, and chilly, and silent I 
 The doves were picking about the snow, and 
 now and then their soft cooing floated up to 
 his ears. The old man started, looked up at 
 the sky and down at the doves, rubbed his 
 forehead a little, and then, pushing up through 
 all the dry and weighty knowledge, with which 
 his head was crammed, struggled one little 
 memory. Thirty-four long years ago, that 
 very day, his little boy had died.
 
 20 MR. PENDLETON'S CUP. 
 
 Just such a January day it was, he re me in* 
 bered, that the little soul flew away, gray, 
 and raw, and chilly. Something very like a 
 sigh escaped his lips, and having fixed his spec- 
 tacles to suit him he turned to the great 
 volume again, but only to find that it had 
 grown suddenly distasteful. 
 
 " Ah me," he muttered, pushing the book 
 back among his papers, " I'm growing old. 
 I can't read one afternoon, I find, without 
 making me nervous. I'll look out the window 
 a little while. It looks quiet enough to soothe 
 any one." 
 
 So he turned him about in his easy-chair, 
 and with his head resting on his hands gazed 
 out. The doves were fluttering about from 
 one spot to another, finding but a scanty feast 
 among the cobble-stones. Just such speckled 
 doves as these, he remembered, his little boy 
 used to feed, sitting in that very window- 
 seat, and throwing the white bread-crumbs
 
 THE ANTIQUARY. 21 
 
 iown on to the stones below. Ah, what a 
 long, long time ago it was ! yet here were the 
 same gray and brown and white and ash-col- 
 ored creatures, hopping about as pertly, and 
 cooing as softly as his Willie's had done. 
 
 "And there's no one to feed them now, 
 since Willie went away! " he muttered, forget- 
 ting all the long years that had flown since the 
 sunny-haired boy sat in the window-seat. 
 "I'll go and feed them myself," said he, get- 
 ting up from his chair ; " they're hungry, poor 
 things ! I wonder how I came to forget 
 them," and he shuffled off down to the kitchen 
 after some bread crumbs, where I'll warrant 
 you he had not been before in many a year. 
 
 Old Kate, the housekeeper, had gone out ; 
 he remembered, after he got down there, that 
 he had seen her start for the post-office. But 
 after much searching in cup-boards and closets, 
 he found a loaf of bread, and armed with a 
 sharp knife went back to his seat. The doves
 
 22 MR. PEXDLETON'S CUP. 
 
 were still picking under the window. Softly 
 he raised the great sash and leaned out. 
 
 "Maybe they'll think it's Willie," lie said 
 softly, as he let fall a shower of crumbs, and 
 laughed a bit contentedly to see how the half- 
 famished birds crowded around. What a 
 strange picture he made ! Had there been 
 any passers-by they would doubtless have pro- 
 nounced him crazy at once. Aged and vener- 
 able he looked, framed in by the dark window 
 sashes, with his white beard sweeping the 
 ledge, and his wrinkled hands eagerly whittling 
 fragments off the big loaf under his arm, while 
 he laughed with almost childish glee to see the 
 soft-feathered things scurry about. Had his 
 brother-antiquarians seen him at that moment, 
 they would not have recognized him. They 
 supposed him the grimest of all mortals. But, 
 you know, they knew nothing about his little 
 boy. 
 
 Just at that instant a vision of sunny curls,
 
 THE ANTIQUARY. 23 
 
 bright eyes, and sweet little mouth, rose up 
 before him just as if the doves had startled 
 it and uttering a cry the old man drew 
 back, thrust down the window hurriedly and 
 dropping his loaf and knife sank back in his 
 chair with a shiver. 
 
 " O my little boy ! " he said, " what did you 
 come back for ! To see poor old papa ? " 
 
 But there was no answer; the vision if 
 vision there had been had fled, and there 
 was only the wide stretch of gray sky to be 
 seen, and the clamor of the doves below to be 
 heard.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 A JOURNEY AFTER A CUP. 
 
 hand pressed over his dim old 
 eves ' ^ e sat mot i n less till a door, 
 somewhere down in the house- 
 keeper's dominion, slammed vio- 
 lently together. Doubtless a current of air 
 had drawn it to, for Mr. Pendleton's doors 
 were not apt to slam by any human agency. 
 Presently old Kate's footsteps were heard on 
 the stairs, and pushing open the cabinet-door 
 she entered with the old gentleman's mail. 
 She moved noiselessly across the floor and 
 placed it upon the writing-table, and in so doing 
 spied the loaf and knife upon the floor. For 
 an instant her eyes opened very wide with 
 24
 
 A JOURNEY AFTER A CUP. 25 
 
 wonder, then she stooped, picked up the bread, 
 gathered up the crumbs carefully in her hand, 
 and hiding them under her apron went out as 
 noiselessly as she entered. 
 
 After a little time Mr. Pendleton looked up 
 with a long sigh perceived that the house- 
 keeper had withdrawn and presently turned 
 to look at his mail. Only one paper and one 
 letter. Yet the letter was large enough for 
 two, and was sealed with a great red old- 
 fashioned stamp. The old gentleman's eye 
 brightened as he looked upon it. " Ahem," 
 said he -, " here is business, I suspect ! " ' The 
 tenderness faded out of his face, and he was 
 once more the stern, grave old antiquarian. 
 Hurriedly he broke the seal, and then to his 
 dismay found that his spectacles were not upon 
 his nose. Where could they be ? He peered 
 under the writing-table, and between the legs 
 of his easy-chair, but no spectacles were there. 
 He tumbled over all the books and papers upon
 
 26 MR. PENDLETON'S CUP. 
 
 his desk, but to no purpose. Then he lost pa- 
 tience and shuffled down to the kitchen in a 
 great hurry, where old Kate was making her 
 tea, and there overhauled her neat cupboards 
 and closets, working dire confusion within. 
 And then he suddenly bethought himself of the 
 window-seat and the doves, and hurrying 
 around the house, presently found his spectacles 
 lying 'safe and sound upon the stones where 
 they had fallen when he leaned out to scatter 
 crumbs. Safely seating them once more upon 
 his nose, he hurried back to the comfort of his 
 easy-chair, and there re-opened his letter. 
 And this was what it contained : 
 
 " WAYNETHORPE, JANUARY 20th. 
 Respected Sir : 
 
 I have some delightful news for you. I 
 should have communicated it earlier, but other 
 business prevented. Morton has a most won- 
 derful cup excelling everything which I have
 
 A JOURNEY AFTER A CUP. 27 
 
 seen in that line these twenty years and you 
 know I have seen some cups in that time. 
 This is of silver antique pattern and is at 
 least two hundred and twenty-five years old. 
 It is perfectly wonderful. The price is fabu- 
 lous, and beyond my means, but not beyond 
 yours I am aware ; and I want you to secure 
 it. To do this you will be obliged to come on 
 and take it at once, as it will pass out of Mor- 
 ton's hands in a week or so. Don't delay a 
 moment after getting this note, as a few hours 
 may be fatal to your success. Hope you are 
 well, and shall look for you on the next train. 
 I'll be at the depot, and we'll go to Morton's 
 at once and secure it. 
 
 Yours in great haste, 
 
 J. HARVEY." 
 To Mr. Jno. Pendleton. 
 
 Now did the old gentleman's eyes fairly 
 shine with joy ! He folded up the letter and
 
 28 MR. PENBLETOX'S CUP. 
 
 carefully bestowed it in his waiscoat pocket. 
 Then he rang the bell, and old Kate made her 
 appearance as soon as her aged feet could climb 
 the stairs. " Well, mistress Kate," said he 
 briskly, "my overcoat and slippers if you 
 please ! but stay I mean did I say over- 
 coat ? I know not how that word crept into 
 my head ! I mean my cloak and boots. Let 
 them come quickly I pray you." Now the 
 cloak hung directly over the old gentleman's 
 head, and the boots lay under his writing-table. 
 But old Kate was accustomed to these freaks 
 of absent-mindedness on the part of her master, 
 and gravely took down the quaint cloak, and 
 brought him his boots. Then she stood with 
 
 o 
 
 folded hand waiting for further orders. On 
 went the boots in a great hurry, the cloak was 
 pulled on, down came the hat from its peg, and 
 Mr. Pendleton was ready ! Then : 
 
 " Will you have tea, sir ? " came fiv>m the 
 . housekeeper's prim lips.
 
 A JOURNEY AFTER A CUP. 29 
 
 " Tea ? no ! I can wait for no tea. I've the 
 cars to catch. Where's my walking-stick ? 
 Ah and now I bethink me I shall want a 
 change of raiment I think. Pray see to it at 
 once, mistress Kate, and pack the black valise ! 
 And then but stay, pray look at the time of 
 day, will you not ? " 
 
 The housekeeper went into the hall, and 
 presently returned to say that it wa^s precisely 
 five p'clock. Now Mr. Pendleton had travelled 
 enough to know that the last train left Darn- 
 leigh at four. His letter had arrived an hour 
 too late ! 
 
 " Ah me ! " he exclaimed soberly, " I'm an 
 hour too late. Where has the afternoon gone ? 
 Well, mistress Kate, I shall not need the black 
 valise at all to-night, but let it be ready early 
 in the morning. I go to Waynethorpe on the 
 first train. Tea, did you say ? Yes ! let ma 
 it directly. This is to be a busy evening
 
 30 MR. PENDLETON'S CUP. 
 
 Light the lamp, good Kate ! I must be at 
 work." 
 
 Off came the cloak and hat, and were thrown 
 into a chair. The old housekeeper made it a 
 standing rule to execute his last orders first, so 
 that hy the time he had divested himself of his 
 boots, the solitary lamp was lit and placed upon 
 the writing-table where there was barely room 
 for it to stand. And here the old gentleman 
 sat himself down to pore over his books and 
 papers, and when the housekeeper came in 
 with the tea-tray, eating and drinking was the 
 very thing fartherest from his mind. So it 
 rftood and cooled, and when the evening was 
 far advanced and he chanced to remember that 
 he had had nothing to eat since noon, it was 
 not fit to taste of. 
 
 Again old Kate was obliged to make her 
 appearance with another tray of food, and if 
 she had not been a patient body entirely used
 
 A JOURNEY AFTER A CUP. 31 
 
 to her master's freaks and whims yon see 
 there would have been sad fretting and mutter- 
 ing on her part. 
 
 Ill these dark and silent hours the snow- 
 flakes began to sail slowly down, rustling 
 against the pane and peering in at the old man 
 as he studied. The lamp-light threw a great 
 grotesque shadow of him on the wall a shad- 
 ow that flickered and bobbed about in a won- 
 derful manner as the old gentleman turned his 
 head from side to side. And here he studied 
 and wrote and worked among his papers till a 
 very late hour, and then took his way to bed. 
 
 The morning dawned snowy and gray. 
 Old Kate was up betimes, and packed her 
 master's valise as he had desired placed it 
 by the legs of his easy-chair, leaned his cane 
 across the arm, brought out his boots from 
 under the book-case; where he had thrown 
 them, and put the old cloak and hat where he 
 could not fail to see them. Then she went to
 
 32 MR. PENDLElON's CUP. 
 
 get breakfast. Now the old gentleman had 
 worked so late the previous night that when 
 morning broke he was very tired and sleepy. 
 There was, moreover a dismal pain in his back 
 from the effects of his many journeys up and 
 down stairs the afternoon before. So he lay 
 and dozed away the minutes till the clock in 
 the hall tinkled eight. 
 
 " Eight o'clock ! " he exclaimed, with a little 
 cry of dismay ; " and the train starts at half- 
 past, if I remember rightly. I've not a min- 
 ute to spare I " and out of bed he got in a 
 great hurry, with many a groan over the stitch 
 in his back, and thrust on his clothes in a very 
 disorderly manner. Before his toilet was half 
 through, the housekeeper rapped at his door 
 to say that breakfast was ready and waiting. 
 
 " Yes ! yes ! my good Kate ! '' said he ; ' I 
 will be there as soon as ever I can. Pray 
 have the black valise ready, for I've no time 
 to lose."
 
 A JOURNEY AFTElt A CUP. 33 
 
 And with that he brushed his gray locks a 
 trifle, tied a black neckerchief around his 
 throat, and rushed out into the cabinet. 
 There he found that the most excellent Kate 
 had made everything ready for his hand, for 
 which he mentally thanked her again and 
 again ; and having donned his travelling gar- 
 ments hurried away to snatch a few mouthfuls 
 of breakfast. Fancy the queer picture he 
 made as he sat at the little oaken table all 
 wrapped and muffled in the great cloak, with a 
 quaint hat set upon his bushy gray locks, tak- 
 ing alternate swallows of coffee and eggl 
 And by his side leaned the ivory-headed cane, 
 and under his feet was the black valise. 
 
 You would have thought him some ancient 
 traveller who had barely time to take his din- 
 ner before the stage started, instead of a re- 
 spectable old gentleman who was eating break- 
 fast in his own house. But not much time or
 
 34 MR. PENDLETON'S CUP. 
 
 thought had he for breakfast, and presently 
 pushed back his chair exclaiming 
 
 " Now I am ready ! Mind the house, good 
 Kate, and I shall be back before many days. 
 Good " Another minute Mr. Pendleton 
 would have been out in the snow, but the 
 housekeeper stopped him short by observing 
 gravely " The snow is over your slippers, 
 sir." 
 
 He had forgotten to put on his boots ! but 
 old Kate's keen eyes had noticed the defect in 
 time to save the worthy man a pair of wet 
 feet. Having exchanged his slippers for the 
 forgotten boots, he hurried off through the 
 falling snow toward the depot. As fast as his 
 feet and cane could urge him along did he go 
 attracting the wondering gaze of every one 
 who chanced to be in the streets. The cab- 
 men stared and grinned, the boot-blacks 
 laughed aloud, and the ladies drew themselves
 
 A JOURNEY AFTER A GUP. 35 
 
 one side and fancied him a crazy man, and 
 altogether our poor antiquary would have had 
 a very unpleasant walk had not his mind been 
 so abstracted by other thoughts, that he was 
 entirely unconscious of the various expressions 
 which his appearance excited. As he entered 
 the depot the bell rang, and the engine whis- 
 tled. " All aboard ! " shouted the conductor, 
 the. train started and poor Mr. Pendleton 
 had only just time to grasp the step-rail and 
 tumble aboard in a manner that caused a 
 brake-man to exclaim sharply "Old man, 
 you'll get killed some of these days ! " But it 
 is doubtful whether he heard this warning, and 
 if he did he was not greatly disturbed, and 
 was soon seated comfortably with his valise 
 and cane safe beside him. 
 
 It was a day's journey to Waynethorpe. 
 Fortunately for the old gentleman there were 
 no changes of cars. For half the day the 
 road was over a low, level country, which the
 
 36 MR. PENDLETON'S CUP. 
 
 snow had whitened and smoothed till it re- 
 sembled one vast plain. At noon the train 
 began to enter the hilly country, and at noon 
 Mr. Pendleton looked up from his book he 
 could not afford to waste time in travelling he 
 thought and for the first time looked around 
 him. The car was hot very full, but about 
 full enough for comfort and company. There 
 were about a half-dozen men in military great- 
 coats who occupied the ^forward end of the 
 car, and who were very merry over their 
 stories, and somewhat boisterous. Two little 
 boys who seemed to be journeying alone occu- 
 pied one seat, and they had been staring at 
 the strangely-attired old gentleman with very 
 wide-open eyes half the forenoon. A poorly 
 and thinly dressed woman, with a baby in her 
 arms, sat in the seat directly in front of him. 
 Some elderly ladies, in the opposite seat, were 
 eating lunch and taking side glances at him, 
 secretly trembling lest he should be an escaped
 
 A JOURNEY AFTEK A CUP. 37 
 
 lunatic who might take it into his crazy head 
 to butcher them all. 
 
 Now at the sight of these ladies with their 
 lunch, Mr. Pendleton suddenly found that he 
 too was hungry. He took up his valise, won- 
 dering whether mistress Kate had had the fore- 
 thought to pack him anything' in the shape of 
 luncheon. Yes, the first thing which met his 
 eyes was a nice paper of sandwiches. Not a 
 very nice place for sandwiches in a valise, one 
 would think, but good Kate knew full well that 
 her master would as lief carry them there as 
 anywhere ; and ten to one he would not think 
 of them at all till he got back. But for once 
 the old gentleman found sandwiches almost as 
 acceptable as books, and munched them with 
 grateful thoughts towards his house-keeper. 
 One by one, people began to eat their lunch- 
 eons ; the little boys displayed a . basket of 
 cookies and rosy apples ; the officers made 
 merry over a bottle of wine ; but the poor
 
 38 MR. PENDLETON'S CUP. 
 
 woman with a baby was quite dinnerless. 
 Suddenly a figure in a great cloak over- 
 shadowed her, and there in her lap lay two 
 nice, fresh-looking sandwiches. Who put them 
 there ? Somebody who did not wish for thanks, 
 it was quite evident ; and the hungry woman 
 ate them gratefully, and did not quite dare to 
 look behind her. 
 
 Now into the hilly country rushed the train, 
 rumbling over tumbling streams, and shoot- 
 ing through the dim and white silver forests. 
 Mr. Pendleton speedily lost himself in the con 
 tents of his book, and knew nothing of the lapse 
 of time till the speed of the train was slackened, 
 and the engine whistled long and shrilly, and 
 then they trundled slowly into Waynethorpe. 
 
 The storm was over, and the snow-clouds 
 were breaking in the West to disclose bright 
 patches of soft blue where the sunbeams were 
 struggling through. Mr. Pendleton made his 
 way through the bustling crowd at the 'station
 
 A JOURNEY AFTER A CUP. 39 
 
 as quick as possible, after finding that his friend 
 was not there. Thinking that that gentleman 
 had given up his arrival, and fearing lest he 
 should lose the cup, our old gentleman at once 
 took a cab to Morton's a curiosity-shop to 
 which he was no stranger. There he found 
 the ancient cup, and purchased it at once. It 
 quite surpassed his expectations. He went into 
 raptures over it. And storing it away in his 
 valise he took his way to the house of his friend, 
 just as the sun was setting and reddening all 
 the sky, and tipping the church-steeples with 
 gold. And as he goes shuffling up the side- 
 walk, <we must be content to lose sight of him 
 for a little while.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 TWO FRIENDS. 
 
 SAYNETHORPE High school was 
 
 out, and the pupils were running 
 homeward over the snowy side- 
 walks, laughing and shouting as all 
 school-children do when let loose from study. 
 It was so pleasant to see the white spotless 
 raiment of snow over everything, and to hear 
 the sleigh-bells jingle in the streets ! And all 
 the gray, sombre clouds were breaking away 
 and floating off in soft, vapory masses, and the 
 long-hidden sun threatened to burst through at 
 any moment. 
 
 The boys were jubilant, and snow-balled 
 40
 
 TWO FRIENDS. 41 
 
 each other to their heart's content. One by 
 one, however, their numbers lessened as one 
 after another reached their homes, till there 
 were only two of all the large number left. 
 And between these two lads who were walk- 
 ing so briskly down the street, how could there 
 be a greater contrast ? 
 
 One of them had a ruddy, merry face that 
 was forever dimpling with the smiles which 
 always hovered there ; he had frank, sparkling 
 blue eyes, and on his curly hair sat a warm fur 
 cap that was perpetually bobbing about with 
 the restless turnings of the owner's head, 
 while his soft, thick garments showed plainly 
 that Harry Thorpe was a rich man's son. 
 
 Poverty was stamped on the very face of his 
 companion. It was thin and pinched, and 
 without a trace of healthy, ruddy color. His 
 eyes, too, had a way of looking very sad at 
 times, and as for dimples in his cheeks why, 
 no one ever *knew such a thing happen to Joe
 
 42 MR. PEXDLETOX'S CUP. 
 
 Gray ! His jacket was patched, and out of 
 the elbows at that, and not another boy in the 
 High school wore such miserable pants, and as 
 for Joe's hat it was a poor dingy, faded, bat- 
 tered thing. But, strange as you may think 
 it, these two boys were the truest of friends. 
 Harry knew quite well enough that under 
 Joe's ragged jacket there beat a heart as warm 
 and faithful as heart can beat ; for hadn't Joe 
 stood by him in all his school-troubles, and 
 once, when he was in such deep, deep disgrace, 
 didn't Joe plead with the teacher till his heart 
 relented ? Hadn't Joe's keen wits lifted him 
 over the dreadful slough in the Algebra lesson 
 tune and time. again? And then, aside from 
 all that, the poor fellow was so wretchedly 
 poor and friendless that Harry's warm heart 
 could not but love and pity him ; and Joe 
 needed some one's love and pity badly enough, 
 for the High school boys were decidedly un- 
 kinc at times. And thus, in the Course of the
 
 TWO FRIENDS. 43 
 
 Winter term which they had been acquainted, 
 the two became such firm friends that they 
 were rarely apart when out of the school- 
 room, and as Joe's homeward way led the 
 same as Harry's, they walked the long path 
 together. 
 
 Now, as they stepped briskly along, Joe's 
 face began to lengthen visibly. Harry's cheery 
 whistle did not sound pleasant at all. It 
 grated upon his feelings, and made him sadder- 
 eyed than ever. Arid presently Harry him- 
 self stopped short, saying 
 
 "Why, Joe Gray, what's the matter of 
 you ? You haven't spoke a word since we left 
 the boys ! " 
 
 " I know," said Joe faintly, " but but you 
 were whistling you know." 
 
 " Oh, Joe, that's just no reason at all ! I 
 whistle every night and you talk just the same. 
 Now think of a better excuse than that ! " 
 
 But Joe had no reason to invent an excuse
 
 44 MR. PENDLETON'S CUP. 
 
 for his unwonted silence, for his trouble was 
 not at all visionary. " Well," said he, in a 
 slow and trembled tone, " the truth is, I've got 
 to leave school ! " 
 
 " O, Joe ! " 
 
 Both were silent till Harry said 
 
 " But you really don't mean it, Joe ? You're 
 only joking me ! " 
 
 "No;" said the other, "I'm. in earnest. 
 Jumper told me this noon. He said " 
 
 " Fudge ! " interrupted the rich man's boy, 
 " Jumper has told you so a dozen times, or 
 more. I wouldn't mind what he says ! He'll 
 get over his stingy fit in a day or two." 
 
 " No, he's really in earnest now. He's lost 
 some money lately, and can't afford to send me 
 to school another day. He said I was to take 
 my books Friday night and not go any more." 
 
 At this his friend's merry face grew very 
 sober too. " Oh, Joe," he exclaimed, " to 
 leave school when it's three-quarters through,
 
 TWO FRIENDS. 45 
 
 and you almost to the very head of your class ! 
 Why, you can't and you mustn't ! " 
 
 " I can, and I must," said Joe sorrowfully, 
 and then they walked a long way down tho 
 pavement in silence. 
 
 High over their heads the leaden clouds had 
 dissolved into bits of floating vapor that mottled 
 the blue beyond it beautifully. And great 
 golden bars of sunlight lay on the white patches 
 of snow, and in the boughs of the spruces which 
 ornamented the door-yard. 
 
 A little way farther in silence, and they 
 reached Harry's gate. It opened into a pretty 
 little yard with winding walks and leafless 
 shrubbery, and tall, 'stately fir-trees which half 
 hid the stone cottage beyond. " Now Joe," 
 said he, "just stop a few minutes, and we'll 
 talk about it. Perhaps we can think of some- 
 thing." 
 
 Joe shook his head hopelessly as his friend
 
 46 MR. PENDLETON'S CUP. 
 
 stepped within the gate, but stopped neverthe 
 less. 
 
 " Now," said the merchant's son, " if we 
 only had money enough to finish this term, 
 perhaps Jumper will send you himself the next. 
 Haven't you any Joe ? " 
 
 " Not a penny ! " said Joe, with a faint 
 smile. 
 
 " Oh dear ! " said Harry, " that's bad. And 
 I've spent every cent of my spending money 
 for this quarter, too. What did I do it for ? 
 But you see, Joe, I got father to allow me half 
 of it at Christmas, and the other half I've spent 
 for things which did me no good at all. Oh, 
 how I wish I hadn't ! " 
 
 Joe shuffled his feet about in the snow his 
 thin cheeks getting very red and when his 
 friend was through, said : 
 
 " I couldn't take your money if you had a 
 mint of it, Harry."
 
 TWO FRIENDS. 47 
 
 " Couldn't take my money ? Why, 1*4 like 
 to know. But you would if 1 had it, for, do 
 you see, I'd make you ! How could you help 
 yourself? I'd go and pay the bill, and then 
 you would be in a fix. But you needn't worry, 
 for I haven't got it. And what's more I don't 
 know how I can get any 1 " Joe was silent, 
 while Harry swung the gate to and fro very 
 impatiently. The want of money was a sensa- 
 tion which he had never before experienced, 
 and the feeling was not at all agreeable. 
 
 " You see," he continued confidentially, 
 " that father is dreadful strict about my spend- 
 ing-money. He only let me draw it before it 
 was due because I hadn't a cent for Christmas ; 
 but he told me then that he would never allow 
 it again, and I know he wouldn't if I should 
 tease him all night. Then, even if he would, I 
 should hate to ask him, for it was my birth-day 
 last Saturday, and he gave me the pony, and 
 that great parcel of books. Oh, if I ever spend
 
 48 MR. PENDLETON'S CUP. 
 
 my money so quick again I hope I may have to 
 go without. It serves me right ! " 
 
 "Well," said Joe, trying to look bright, 
 " don't think any more about it. I'm sorry I 
 told you." 
 
 " I will think about it, and you needn't be 
 sorry you told me ! " said Harry, in his im- 
 petuous way ; " I'd like to know why I mayn't 
 try to help you ? I think Jumper is real mean 
 and stingy, anyhow ! " 
 
 " No ! no ! " said Joe quickly, " you mustn't 
 call him that ! Jumper is poor and has got 
 five children ; and I'm not the least bit related 
 to him, either. So you see he's kind instead 
 of stingy, for he isn't obliged to keep me one 
 minute. I'd ought to be glad that he doesn't 
 turn me adrift.' 7 
 
 " Joe, you're a good fellow ! " said his friend 
 warmly ; "I take back what I said about 
 Jumper. But all this doesn't help us one bit, 
 Oh dear ! what a dreadful thing it is to he 
 poor I "
 
 TWO FRIENDS. 49 
 
 Joe laughed in spite of himself, it sounded 
 BO oddly to hear such words from that well-fed, 
 well-dressed boy, who thought less of a dollar 
 than he himself did of a penny. 
 
 " Oh, you may laugh, master Joe," cried his 
 friend, " and I know what you're laughing at ; 
 but I'm just as poor as you at this moment. 
 I've not one more penny than you ; and all the 
 difference is, you're not to blame for it, while 1 
 am. I might have had enough and to spare. 
 But all this talking don't help us one bit, as I 
 said before. There isn't a plan in my head. 
 Help me, Joe ! " 
 
 But Joe was moving slowly away, saying : 
 
 "I guess it's time for me to go. Mrs. 
 Jumper will have supper ready." 
 
 " Pshaw ! " cried Harry, " that's only one of 
 your miserable excuses, Joe Gray! Come 
 back, or I'll never forgive you." 
 
 Thus importuned, Joe paced slowly back. 
 
 " Why," continued the merchant's son, " do
 
 50 MB. PENDLETON'S CUP. 
 
 you think I'd let you leave school, Joe ? and at 
 the very time when you're getting on so finely, 
 and going ahead of us all ? No sir I I'll pawn 
 ray watch first." 
 
 " Oh, Harry ! " said Joe, with a great sigh 
 of reproach. 
 
 " Yes sir ! I'll pawn my watch, and then 
 next quarter I can redeem it easy enough with 
 my spending money. O, I wonder I didn't 
 think of it before ! " and Harry laughed a 
 little with delight at the good promise of this 
 plan. 
 
 At this Joe's face was something to look at. 
 He flushed very red, then grew pale, then said 
 firmly 
 
 " I won't stir an inch toward school if you 
 do that way." 
 
 " Oh, you obstinate Joe!" cried his friend, 
 indignantly, " I'll just let you go your own 
 way, and see what '11 become of you. No, I 
 won't either ! But really, Joe. don't be so
 
 TWO FRIENDS. 51 
 
 like a mule. What's the good ? and you 
 make me dreadfully out of patience with you." 
 
 Joe leaned against the fence-rail, and looked 
 upward. What peace and beauty was in the 
 sky! Somewhere behind all these long rows 
 of buildings the sun was setting. And though 
 to the dwellers in' the city its dying was invisi- 
 ble, all over the evening sky was such glory 
 and richness and wealth of color, that one 
 might easily fancy what lay hidden behind the 
 dingy brick buildings. Soft bits of clouds of 
 a rosy hue hovered everywhere, and here and 
 there were little flecks of molten gold tinted 
 at the edges with purple. Joe sighed a little 
 as he looked at all this beauty, and knew not 
 why. Harry drummed on the gate with his 
 fingers, keeping time to the tinkle of his 
 sister's piano which floated faintly to their ears 
 and by-and-by he said slowly 
 
 " If we could only get some of the gold 
 that's floating over our heads! Then we'd
 
 62 MB. PENDLETON'S CUP. 
 
 have enough for one school-term, I'm thinking. 
 Say, Joe, why don't one person have money as 
 well as another ? Why isn't it divided up as 
 it ought to be ? I'm sure I wish you had 
 some of ours." 
 
 These questions were quite too much for 
 Joe, and he was silent. Why he lingered at 
 the gate he had not the least idea. There was 
 no use in it, he thought. There was no possi- 
 ble way in which he could keep his place at 
 school, and he might as well give up now as 
 anytime. What use was there in making a 
 fuss about it? Yet, oh, how Joe did love 
 books and study ! Harry didn't care a snap 
 for books, and only studied because he was 
 obliged to, yet he had books by the hundred, 
 and had got to go to college sometime, way off 
 in the future ; while Joe Joe that loved 
 them with such a passion could never get a 
 volume of his own, and now had got to leave 
 school in the midst of hif studies for the want
 
 TWO FRIENDS. 53 
 
 of a few paltry dollars. Oh, why was it so ? 
 he wondered. What should make such a great 
 difference in their fortune ? What right had 
 Harry to so much more money than he ? 
 How came he to be born to rags and poverty, 
 while Harry always wore the nicest and softest 
 of clothes, the shiniest of boots, and knew not 
 a want or discomfort from one long year to 
 another ? 
 
 Now these queries came suddenly into the 
 boy's mind as he stood gazing upward, and 
 perplexed him sorely. They made his great 
 gray eyes look sadder than ever, and without 
 finding an answer to one of these perplexing 
 thoughts, he turned around to his frieni, 
 saying 
 
 " I really must be going. Mrs. Jumper 
 scolds sometimes, you know." 
 
 " Yes, I know. Poor Joe ! I'm just as 
 sorry as I can be. Now don't go home look-
 
 54 MR. PENDLETON'S CUP. 
 
 ing that way, for I shall keep thinking of you 
 all the time." 
 
 Whereat Joe tried to smile, but could not. 
 Now the winter twilight was short, and all the 
 glory which hovered in the sky was fleeting, 
 Quickly the brilliant hues faded and turned to 
 gray, and long dusky shadows crept into the 
 street. Joe had taken two or three homeward 
 steps when he stopped short at the sight of a 
 queer figure coming down the street. 
 
 " Do look ! " cried Harry, under his breath ; 
 " did you ever see such a funny fellow ? " 
 
 The figure which had attracted their atten- 
 tion was wrapped in a long antique cloak. 
 Upon his head was a hat as ancient-looking as 
 the cloak, and the slight evening breeze blew 
 out his long gray locks behind. In his hands 
 he carried a black valise, and, what looked very 
 funny indeed, it was not fastened, but yawned 
 wide-open and flapped back and forth with
 
 TWO FRIENDS. 55 
 
 every step which he took. Walking as fast as 
 possible, and nervously swinging his cane, he 
 made quite an odd-looking personage. 
 
 Now in the pavement, a few feet from the 
 boys, there was a step. The street was thick 
 with growing shadows, and as the old gentle- 
 man's eyes were somewhat dim it was no won- 
 der that he failed to see it. He stumbled 
 came almost to the pavement and dropped 
 his cane and valise to save himself. Harry 
 Thorpe but illy concealed his mirth at the 
 sight of this tumble, and sad-hearted Joe could 
 not refrain from smiling at the way in which 
 the old hat bobbed about. 
 
 The old gentleman gathered himself and his 
 possessions together with a little groan, and 
 after pausing a moment to re-adjust his hat 
 and cloak, hurried on into the dusk. 
 
 " A crazy man ! " decided Harry as soon as 
 he was out of hearing ; " did you ever see 
 such an odd fellow ? Those clothes of his are
 
 56 MR. PENDLETON'S CUP. 
 
 at least a hundred years old, and the way 
 that .valise flapped ! Why, I should think he'd 
 lose everything out of it. It's no matter if he 
 does, I suppose, seeing he can't have anything 
 of much value. I really thought he was going 
 to break his neck, Joe ! "
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 FINDING A TREASURE. 
 
 ARDLY had the old gentleman passed 
 out of sight in the evening dusk when 
 a door in the stone cottage opened, and 
 a voice called 
 " Master Harry ! your mother says you're to 
 come in to tea directly, and not stand talking 
 a minute longer to that " 
 
 Here the door slammed and cut short the 
 last word, but both the boys knew that the 
 sentence was intended to be finished with 
 " beggar." 
 
 Harry's face flushed hot with indignation, 
 and looking anxiously at his friend he ex- 
 claimed : 
 57
 
 58 MR. PENDLETON'S CUP. 
 
 " Don't mind it, Joe, dear. 'Twas only 
 Ellen, our hired girl, and I know mamma 
 never said such a thing in her life. I'll pay 
 Ellen for that." 
 
 But to Joe's sad heart this was another 
 heavy weight. He was not a beggar. He 
 was poor, but who was to blame ? The same 
 Heavenly Father who gave Harry his cottage, 
 gave Joe his rags. And why had he done it ? 
 Ah, that was the question which was so troub- 
 ling the poor boy's heart. He did not know 
 where to find an answer! He turned away 
 from the gate sad and heavy-hearted. 
 Warm-hearted Harry could not but notice his 
 dejected air, and presently Joe felt two arms 
 about his neck, and an eager voice whispered : 
 
 " I don't care if you are poor, Joe ! I love 
 you ever and ever so much better than if you 
 were rich. Now don't go home with such a 
 face I Cheer up, and don't mind it a bit, Joe ! " 
 
 At which Joe's heart gave a great throb of
 
 FINDING A TREASURE. 59 
 
 gratitude, and releasing himself he said, " Good 
 night," and once more started homeward. 
 Now he had not gone half-a-dozen steps be- 
 fore he reached the little step in the pavement, 
 and came near having such an accident as had 
 befallen the old gentleman a few minutes be- 
 fore ; for to his great surprise, as he stepped 
 lightly off, his foot struck something which 
 rolled and came near tripping him up. 
 
 " I wonder what ails that step ? " he mut- 
 tered; then, by the merest chance, his eyes 
 happened to fall upon the pavement, and there 
 they spied something which glittered. 
 
 " It's somebody's old tea-pot," he said to 
 himself; " and I'll pick it up and throw it into 
 the street before any one breaks their neck up- 
 on it." 
 
 So he stooped and picked it up, swung it 
 back and forth a few times, preparatory to 
 giving it a final throw into the street, and then
 
 60 MR. PENDLETON'S CUP. 
 
 was suddenly astonished at its weight. A tin 
 tea-pot was never so heavy as that ! 
 
 Quickly he brought it before his eyes, and 
 
 by the dim light that was left, the boy beheld a 
 
 ' most wonderful" and beautiful cup I Never had 
 
 his eyes looked upon such a rich and splendid 
 
 thing ! Where could it have come from ? 
 
 Filled with wonder and astonishment, he ran 
 back to the gate, calling : a 
 
 " Harry ! Harry ! come back a minute ! " 
 
 His friend had nearly reached the house, but 
 stopped and came back at this appeal. 
 
 " Why, Joe, what's wanting ? " he said in 
 some astonishment as he reached the gate. 
 
 " Why," exclaimed Joe with trembling eag- 
 erness, " the strangest thing ! I stumbled 
 over something by that step in the walk, and 
 picked up this ! " and in his friend's hand he 
 placed the cup. 
 
 Harry held it up before his eyes, and sur-
 
 FINDING A TREASURE. 61 
 
 veyed it for a minute with breathless astonish- 
 ment. His eyes were more accustomed than 
 Joe's to seeing elegant articles, and was con- 
 sequently quicker to gain some sense of its 
 value. 
 
 " Why, Joe!" he said hurriedly, "it's - 
 solid silver ! and worth oh, I shouldn't 
 dare guess how much ! " 
 
 Both boys looked straight into each other's 
 eyes, and were silent. Where could it have 
 come from ? Had it dropped from the skies ? 
 Then Joe said slowly -j 
 
 " That old man must have lost it out of his 
 valise when he stumbled over the step ! " 
 
 "Pshaw," cried his friend, unbelievingly, 
 " it isn't at all likely that that old crazy man 
 carries silver cups around in his carpet-bag, an 
 open bag, too. Why, Joe, I never saw such a 
 magnificent thing. It's an inch thick ! " 
 * " Yes, it is," said Joe, feeling the rim with 
 his fingers.
 
 62 MR. PENDLETON'S CUP. 
 
 " And it's all around with beautiful figures 
 though it's so dark I can only feel them 
 Why, it's fit for an emperor. Who ever heard 
 of such a thing being lost on a side-walk ? It 
 must have dropped from some other planet." 
 
 Joe drew a great long sigh. 
 
 "You're a lucky fellow ! " exclaimed Harry; 
 but still Joe was silent. 
 
 At last he said 
 
 " I wonder where that old man went to ? 
 It must have fallen out of his valise, for 
 there's been no one past since we stood here, 
 not a single person. It must be he that 
 lost it, though he's a funny person to be carry- 
 ing such a thing about." 
 
 " I don't believe it was he ! " said Harry ; 
 " it's too ridiculous to think of a minute. No 
 one less than a king could own it, I'm sure." 
 
 The boys surveyed the precious treasure, 
 and again were silent. Both their hearts beat? 
 very high with excitement. And now into
 
 FINDING A TREASURE. 63 
 
 Joe's heart there crept for the first timu the 
 first little thought of that which was afterward 
 the cause of so much trouble to him Temp- 
 tation. He shivered and sighed, and kicked 
 the snow ahout with his ragged boots. By- 
 and-by, in a tone which was more interroga- 
 tory than affirmative, Harry said softly , 
 
 " Oh, Joe, now you can go to school as long 
 as you like ! " 
 
 u Don't ! don't ! " cried poor Joe, piteously, 
 "don't say that, Harry." 
 
 " Why not, pray ? What ails you, Joe ? " 
 
 " Oh, I'm thinking of something dread- 
 ful. You mustn't talk like that to me. You'll 
 make me do something wicked," cried Joe, 
 kicking the snow about fiercely. 
 
 u Wicked ? Now, what are you saying, 
 Joe Gray ! and what are you kicking the snow 
 about so for ? Who owns this cup ? " 
 
 " I don't know ; I wish I did ; " said Joe. 
 
 " Well," said his friend, " I don't believe
 
 64 MR. PENDLETON'S COP. 
 
 you ever will know. I don't believe it was 
 that old man's, and if it isn't yours, whose is it ? 
 Your good fairy must have dropped it on the 
 path for you, Joe ! " 
 
 "My evil fairy, I think!" muttered the 
 finder of this treasure. 
 
 " What, when it brings you such a good for- 
 tune ? Oh, Joe ! just think of the things 
 which this splendid cup will buy you ! It will 
 send you to school a dozen times, and get you 
 new clothes, and warm ones, too, and and - 
 oh, I can't begin to tell you half the things it 
 will get ! " 
 
 Now Harry Thorpe was not a bad boy at 
 heart ; he would no more have stolen a penny 
 than he would have allowed his hand out off. 
 But now, when this great treasure had so sud- 
 denly fallen into his friend's possession, he 
 spoke words which at another time he would 
 not have uttered. Here was the means to send 
 Joe to school as long as he liked, to give him
 
 FINDING A TREA HIRE. 65 
 
 nice warm clothes, to buy him books, to drive 
 away hunger and want and those pinched 
 cheeks ! Now they knew not the owner of 
 this precious thing, and why was it not Joe's 
 as much us any one's ? Did not he need it 
 more than any one else ? Had not he found 
 it ? Was not what one found, one's own ? 
 
 Perhaps the boys knew what was in each 
 other's hearts, for they were silent a long time 
 after the last remark of Harry's. Over their 
 heads the bright, beautiful stars came out and 
 looked down upon them. A fair young moon 
 crept out of the white clouds to silver the snow, 
 and roofs, and .steeples a little. And it shone 
 upon that wonderful cup in Harry's hand, and 
 set its burnished sides a-glitter, and made the 
 rich tracery glisten like frost-work. Oh, the 
 temptation ! 
 
 Presently the door of the stone cottage 
 opened, and a soft voice said :
 
 66 MR. PENDLETON'S CUP. 
 
 " Harry, supper is over, and you must come 
 in at once, if you wish any." 
 
 " Yes ! yes ! I'll come in a minute," said 
 Harry ; and then he turned to his friend, say- 
 ing: 
 
 "I've got to go in now, Joe, for certain. 
 That was mamma. Now now what are you 
 going to do with with the cup ? " 
 
 "Oh dear!" sighed Joe ; " I wish I'd 
 never found it. What can I do with it ? " 
 
 " Carry it home for to-night, or you can 
 leave it with me," suggested his friend ; " I 
 shall not show it to any one, you may believe." 
 
 Joe hesitated a moment, then said : 
 
 " Well, I guess I'll leave it with you. I've 
 no place to put it, and Jumper might see it and 
 take it away from me. Yes ! I'll leave it with 
 you to-night." 
 
 " Very well," said Harry ; " it's jnst as you 
 say," and hiding it under his coat, he gave hia
 
 FINDING A TREASURE. 67 
 
 friend a hurried good-night, and ran up the 
 walk out of sight. Joe lingered at the gate till 
 .he saw the parlor-door swing wide letting 
 out a great glow of warm light, and a burst of 
 sweet music and Harry enter. And then he 
 turned himself about to go to his own house. 
 Oh, how dingy and cheerless it seemed in con- 
 trast with the one he was now. leaving ! No 
 sweet-voiced mother, no gentle sister, no proud 
 and kind-hearted father ; no bright and cheer- 
 ful rooms, no waiting supper-table, no joy and 
 music for him. 
 
 Joe's heart ached sadly as he paced along 
 the pavement. He resolutely determined to 
 drive away all thoughts of the treasure that 
 night, and to make no decision concerning it 
 till the next morning, when his head would be 
 quieter, and free from all those dreadful, 
 troublesome thoughts, he hoped. All along 
 his path fell broad bars of rosy light from win- 
 dows where he could see pleasant family
 
 68 MR. PENDLETON'S CUP. 
 
 groups around a cosey tea-table; or clusteis 
 of merry-faced, bright-eyed children playing 
 'games, or romping with good-natured papa. 
 And at one house with long, low windows 
 there was a children's party, and the little 
 folks were dancing merrily to the time of a 
 lively, cheery tune. The yellow gas-light lit 
 up the great room in which they were gath- 
 ered, and showed tall cases of books, walls 
 hung with pictures, and vases of bright, sum- 
 mer-like flowers. 
 
 He lingered a minute on the pavement un- 
 der the window to see how joyous and gleeful 
 the children were, and how lightly they 
 danced. It seemed to him that he had never 
 seen so many merry, happy people before, 
 or if he had, he had never noticed them with 
 such keen, wistful eyes as he did this night. 
 Oh, I cannot tell you half the weight of lone- 
 liness and desolation that settled down in his 
 heart as he passed down the long, long street,
 
 FINDING A TREASURE. 69 
 
 r 
 
 and found such happiness for everybody but 
 himself. It seemed to him that he, of all that 
 great city-full of people, was the only friend- 
 less and desolate one. And his only pleasure, 
 that of going to school, was to be taken from 
 him in a few days, and then what should he 
 do ? Beg for Jumper ? No ! before he would 
 do that he would keep the u Pshaw!" he 
 cried to himself, " I was not going to think of 
 that miserable cup again to-night. Oh, how 
 late it's getting to be ! Jumper will certainly 
 take my ears off." 
 
 He looked up into the sky, saw how the 
 myriad stars had crept out to twinkle through 
 the clouds, and soon the city bells chimed out 
 seven. Then, partly because his toes were 
 very cold, and partly because of the lateness 
 of the hour, he broke into a run. 
 
 It was yet a long way to the Juniper abode 
 Down down toward the lower end of tho 
 city, he pressed on. The handsome stone cot*
 
 70 MR. PENDLETON'S CUP. 
 
 tages and great brick blocks were left behind, 
 and dingy, dark old wooden tenements took 
 their places. In some of them not a light wa:> 
 to be seen, save the faint flicker of moon- 
 beams in the dirty, cob-webbed panes. Here 
 and there, in the darkest alleys, a street-lamp 
 glowed. Dreariness, misery, filthiness was 
 stamped upon everything. The pure white 
 snow had fallen upon the dirty walks, and over 
 the filthy gutters, and hid for a little time their 
 unseemliness. 
 
 Often upon the clear evening air rang the 
 echo of a drunken song, or the shouts and cri^s 
 of some noisy rioters ; and once Joe's race 
 was checked by a crowd of boisterous tipplers 
 who were gathered on the side- walk quarrelling 
 among themselves. As he came running along 
 they seized upon him as an object for their 
 drunken sport, and it was not until some min- 
 utes had passed, and he had received some 
 rough knocks, that he managed to slip away,
 
 FINDING A TREASURE. < I 
 
 But it was not the first time that Joo had fallen 
 into the hands of such men, and not much dis- 
 turbed thereby, he hurried on, and presently 
 reached the Jumper residence. It was a little 
 story-and-a half, tumble-down wooden building, 
 squeezed in between two tall, dingy tenement 
 houses. The residents of this disreputable 
 neighborhood looked upon Mr. Jumper as rich, 
 because he lived in a house of his own ; but 
 beyond this miserable shelter Juniper had 
 nothing. He was addicted to taking a drop 
 too much now and then, and but for this vice 
 he would have been a moderately kind husband 
 and father. As it was, the residence was often 
 the scene of brawls between husband and wife, 
 and in these squabbles, Jumper generally got 
 the worst of it. He was a house-carpenter by 
 trade, and when sober usually earned good 
 wages. 
 
 Why he kept poor penniless Joe was some- 
 thing of a mystery The lad had not the
 
 T2 JR. PENDLETON'S CUP. 
 
 slightest claim upon his charity, and Jumper 
 had found him wandering about the streets one 
 chilly winter evening and brought him to his 
 dwelling to *' stay over night," as he said. 
 That was several long years ago, and the 
 carpenter had never quite the heart to turn 
 him adrift, and so the boy grew up and got a 
 term at school now and then when Jumper had 
 the means. 
 
 Mrs. Jumper was a thin-faced, sharp-fea- 
 tured woman, whose back-hair always hung 
 down her back, and who was not at all neat- 
 looking. All the inmates of the tumble-down 
 house stood in awe of her tongue, and Mr. 
 Jumper stood somewhat in awe of her fists. 
 She did not look upon poor Joe with very 
 favorable eyes partly because she consid- 
 ered him a burden upon their means, and 
 partly because he was smarter than her own 
 children. She always contrived to give him 
 the hardest bits of crust, and the scantiest
 
 FINDING A TREASURE. 73 
 
 allowance of soup ; at which Joe did not grum- 
 ble at all, but was thankful that he <*ould get 
 any. 
 
 Now as he reached home this star-lit night, 
 he fancied the house to be unusually silent. 
 The dim light of a candle flickered through 
 the window, and showed that the Jumpers 
 were at home, but very quiet for such a noisy 
 family. 
 
 With many misgivings he lifted the latch, 
 pushed open the crazy old door, and entered.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 JOE'S TEMPTATION. 
 
 RS. JUMPER was in ill humor, 
 Joe saw that as soon as he set foot 
 within the room. Her cheeks were 
 flushed, and her eyes rested upon 
 him with no mild glance. Jumper sat in one 
 corner looking very sullen, and the boy was 
 instantly aware that they had been quarreling. 
 Very likely the carpenter had come home 
 drunk. Neither spoke at first, and Joe took 
 off his hat and went to the old cracked stove 
 to warm his numb toes. The five little Jump- 
 ers had gone to bed, and for once the boy had 
 a comfortable seat without any crowding ; but 
 
 74
 
 JOE'S TEMPTATION. 75 
 
 unfortunately for him he trod upon the tip 
 of old Tiger's tail as it protruded from under 
 the stove, causing the dog to set up a most 
 dolorous howl of pain and anger. Whereupon, 
 Mrs. Jumper opened her vials of wrath. 
 
 " Joe Gray ! " cried she, " what do you 
 mean by stayin' out so late ? " Joe was silent, 
 that being his only shield of defence. u It's 
 half-past seven, if it's a minnit ! A pretty 
 time to get home from school. But, thank 
 Fortune, you won't have a chance to play 
 truant much longer! your school-going is 
 about over, sir. Where've you been to? 
 Come, speak out, or I'll make ye ! " 
 
 " I stopped on the rood home with Harry 
 Thorpe," Joe remarked mildly. 
 
 " I thought so ! I knew about where ye 
 was. High times, Master Joe, your're having 
 vitli that big boy's son ! Don't care much 
 about the Jumpers just now, do ye? Come, 
 now, why don't ye leave us for good and all?"
 
 76 MR. PEXDLETON'S CUP. 
 
 " "Wife," interposed the carpenter, " Joe 
 hasn't " 
 
 Mrs. Jumper faced about with a look which 
 cut her husband short. Joe took advantage 
 of this temporary lull in the tempest to enquire 
 if there was any supper left for him. 
 
 " Well, now," observed the irate lady very 
 ironically, " that's cool ! Supper ? I declare ! 
 Why, ha'nt ye been to supper ? Of course ye 
 have ! You took supper with them smart 
 Thorpes', and now you think you can git 
 another out of us. But, my young friend, you 
 can't come it." 
 
 To which poor Joe could only protest that 
 he had not tasted a mouthful since noon. Mrs. 
 Jumper shook her head incredulously, and af- 
 fected not to believe one word of the story. 
 
 " Things have come to a pretty pass," said 
 she sneeringly, "when a boy of your > age '11 
 tell lies as fast as he can talk. What ! do you 
 'spose you can make me think that ye're in
 
 JOE'S TEMPTATION. 77 
 
 such smart company and haven't had an invite 
 to supper? No, sir! I know gentle folk's 
 manners better than that. Shame upon ye, 
 Joe Gray, for being so greedy ! tryin' to 
 take the very victuals out of the mouth of 
 them that's starving, when you're living on the 
 fat of the land ! " 
 
 Now Mrs. Jumper knew perfectly well that 
 Joe had not had a mouthful of supper ; but 
 being in very ill-humor, and finding that the 
 carpenter was too sullen to be much disturbed 
 by her scolding, she showered all her malice 
 upon Joe's poor head. Very forlorn and mis- 
 erable was the boy as he sat by the stove, and 
 even Jumper's obtuse senses perceived some- 
 thing of this, for he made mysterious signs 
 from his seat in the corner, and shook his fists 
 behind Mrs. Jumper's back, and made faces at 
 her, all of which was to signify that Joe 
 was not to mind her sharp tongue in the least. 
 The fire roa.-ed in the old stove, and shot little
 
 T8 MR. PENDLETON S CUP. 
 
 gleams of light through the cracks, and did ita 
 best to warm his toes ; and after he was quite 
 warmed through, and had given up the idea of 
 supper that night, he groped his way up the 
 dark, ricketty stairs to bed. 
 
 Now it is a hard matter to go to bed supper- 
 less especially when a boy has been study- 
 ing all the long afternoon, and has spent part 
 of the evening in the clear, appetite-giving air. 
 How would you like to try it, you that hardly 
 know what it is to feel hungry? But aside 
 from his empty stomach, Joe had an aching 
 heart, and that was harder to bear than the 
 other pain. Candle-light was a luxury which 
 he knew nothing of at bed-time, and it was not 
 so much of a hardship to grope his way in the 
 darkness. The long, low, cheerless room at 
 the top of the house he had all to himself, 
 that was one comfort ! The five little Jumpers 
 slept in a room below. Now as he reached 
 this cold chamber he walked straight to the 
 window in the end and looked out.
 
 JOE'S TEMPTATION. 79 
 
 The great dome of sky above him waa 
 almost dazzling with its wealth of stars. Bril- 
 liant, glittering, twinkling, they looked down 
 upon him as with ten million eyes. Not a 
 trace of cloud was there to be seen, nothing 
 in the wide vault but stars, save where the 
 city belfreys and steeples towered up silent 
 and dark. The young moon had gone down. 
 
 Now as he sat here a great crowd of turbu- 
 lent thoughts came rushing into his mind. He 
 thought of his friend Harry, now probably en- 
 joying himself in his father's pleasant parlor, 
 where everything was bright and joyous and 
 comfortable. He imagined to himself the deli- 
 cious supper which his friend had eaten. And 
 when bed-time came, he would go to sleep in 
 a warm, gas-lit room, in a snug little bed with 
 plenty of coverlets. And then Joe thought of 
 himself. Here he was in the dark and cold, 
 with nothing but stars for a light. His bed 
 was made of some waste stuff which the car-
 
 80 ME. PENDLETON'S CUP. 
 
 penter had found time to knock together f md 
 upon it there was just one poor, ragged quilt. 
 Hungry and faint, he would have been glatf of 
 the crumbs which had fallen from his frifc-'id'j 
 plate. Oh, why was there so much differ' TA e 
 in their lots ? And then came a quick tho. ^ht 
 of the treasure which he had found. 
 
 Ah, poor Joe ! now you are slipping all un- 
 wittingly into the Tempter's clutches ! \ le is 
 in this cheerless, gloomy old garret-changer, 
 and presently you will have a sharp corflict 
 with him. God help you I 
 
 Vividly, just as if it had been painted before 
 his eyes, he saw the cheerless life which he 
 was living rise up before him, oh, so desolate 
 and dreary! He saw himself ragged and 
 patched shunned and despised by all respect- 
 able people, by all his school-mates, except 
 dear, warm-hearted Harry. No matter if he 
 were just as smart, and intelligent, and good as 
 they, it all availed nothing. It was no matter
 
 JOE'S TEMPTATION. 81 
 
 at all that he loved nice things, and comforts, 
 and all the luxuries which other boys possessed, 
 he could not have them. It was useless to 
 think of it. 
 
 Now on the other hand there rose up just 
 vivid and distinct the wonderful cup which 
 he had found this very night, all its rim a- 
 glitter, and its sides shining with silver frost- 
 work, as he had seen it in the moonbeams. 
 And with the cup he saw a multitude of other 
 things. There was himself not ragged and 
 patched this time, but neat and well-dressed. 
 There were books, the very books which he had 
 longed for ! There was an abundance of every 
 thing nice to eat, and somehow he seemed to 
 see everything through a rose-colored medium* 
 All around him was joy and brightness and 
 pleasure. People no longer shunned nor 
 frowned upon him, but said " How are you, 
 Joe, my boy?" and his school-mates were 
 friendly., ane* cried " Joe, you're a fine fel-
 
 82 MR. PENDLETON'S CUP. 
 
 low ! " And as he looked, all these comforts 
 And blessings seemed to radiate from this won- 
 derful cup. If he turned away his eyes from it, 
 there was the old miserable, cheerless life, 
 staring him in the face again. 
 
 Were not these queer things for poor Joe 
 Gray to see while looking at the stars ? But 
 you know the Tempter painted them for him ! 
 
 Presently in his ears something whispered 
 to poor Joe in the silence it sounded wonder- 
 fully distinct " Now which will you choose ? 
 To live this wretched, hungry life, be sneered 
 at, scolded, starved, taken from school and 
 abused ; or keep this wonderful cup which is 
 yours, of course and with it purchase all the 
 luxuries, pleasures, and comforts which you 
 have seen shining about it ? Now whi- h will 
 you do ? You'll have to decide one wa> or the 
 other, presently ! " 
 
 The boy shivered not with the cold 
 and sat perfectly still. Just then, as if to iu
 
 JOE'S TEMPTATION. 83 
 
 crease his temptation there came up from 
 below the harsh tones of Mrs. Jumper's voice. 
 Oh, how shrill and cross it was ! Then Juniper 
 retorted in gruff tones, and then there came 
 heavy blows, the stove-pipe rattled, chairs 
 were overturned, and the crazy house shook 
 with the jar of heavy feet. After a few min- 
 utes of subdued scuffling, Jumper screamed 
 
 
 out "Let go of my hair!" and then he 
 heard a sharp, ringing blow, which made the 
 woman cry out with pain. Oh, how bright the 
 cup looked at this moment ! how dazzling I how 
 tempting ! 
 
 If you well-beloved, well-fed, home-shel- 
 tered boy had been in poor Joe Gray's 
 place in that cold garret, penniless, hungry, 
 and your ears filled with the coarse cries of 
 those scufflers below, would you have yi^ld- 
 ed to the Tempter at your elbow and kept the 
 cup? 
 
 Joe suddenly thrust his fingers into his ears
 
 84 MR. PENDLETOX'S CUP. 
 
 to stifle these sounds, and walked away from 
 the window to his miserable little bed in tho 
 corner. Hurriedly he crept in, and drew the 
 coverlet over his eyes to shut out the glittering 
 object which danced before them. He would 
 not decide then, he thought ; perhaps he should 
 feel differently in the morning. And then the 
 Tempter was baffled for a little while ; but it 
 was a long, long time before sleep touched his 
 eye-lids, and all the heavy minutes the stars 
 looked in upon him, looked in with their 
 pure, calm, unwavering eyes. 
 
 When Harry Thorpe left his friend at his 
 mother's call, he found the tea-table waiting 
 for him. But before he could eat his supper 
 he ran up to his room, and placed the precious 
 cup under his pillow. His mother chid him a 
 little for his tardiness, and enquired 
 
 "Who is that ragged-looking boy, my 
 dear?"
 
 JOE'S TEMPTATION. 80 
 
 " Why," said Harry, with downcast eyes, 
 hardly knowing how his mother would favor 
 the acquaintanceship, " it's a friend I made 
 at school, mother. He's poor, hut that that 
 doesn't make him any worse, does it ? " 
 
 " Certainly not, Harry ; I only hope he's 
 not a bad companion." 
 
 u He's a better boy than I ! " said the son, 
 warmly. 
 
 Whereupon his mother allowed him to eat 
 his supper in peace. After he had finished, he 
 loitered in the parlor a little time, turning 
 Ellen's music-sheets for her as she played. 
 And a trifle before the clock struck eight, he 
 announced his intention of going to bed. 
 
 " What, so soon ? " said his mother ; " are 
 you ill, Harry ? " 
 
 "No, ma'am, not at all," he replied; "but 
 I'd rather go early to-night, I believe. I don't 
 care to sit up." 
 
 44 He misses papa," said sister Sophy after
 
 86 MR. PENDLETON'S CUP. 
 
 he had gone out, "and I think he studies 
 pretty hard now-a-days. At any' rate it's a 
 good thing for him, isn't it, mamma ? ' Early 
 to bed, and early to rise,' you know." 
 
 " Yes," said the mother, little thinking why 
 her son wished to reach his room ; I hope 
 Harry will always stick to early hours. He 
 generally wishes to sit up till ten, though." 
 
 Once in his room, Harry drew the cup from 
 under his pillow, and proceeded to inspect its 
 beauty more closely by the single gas-jet which 
 was burning. It fairly dazzled him with its 
 wonderful glitter. 
 
 u Oh," he thought to himself, " Joe has 
 picked up a fortune this time ! I wonder if it 
 is really that old gentleman's ? Pshaw ! it 
 can't be, for that was a crazy man we saw, and 
 he could not possibly possess such a thing as 
 this. But it is funny how it came by that 
 Btep ! " 
 
 Long he wondered and speculated whence it
 
 JOE'S TEMPTATION. 87 
 
 came, and turned it from side to side to let the 
 light fall on every particle of its rich tracery. 
 Then he placed it under one of the pillows of 
 the bed, and soon after laid his own head beside 
 it. And sleep came and quickly touched his 
 eye-lids, and set him to dreaming about it. 
 
 Now hardly had he fallen asleep before there 
 was a sharp pull at the bell below. Ellen, the 
 harsh-voiced servant-girl, answered the call. 
 She found a suspicious looking character 
 there, and only opened the door a trifle, just 
 enough to let a ray of light fall upon the 
 visitor's face. An old cloak enveloped him, 
 and his gray locks were crowned with a hat 
 of ancient fashion, while in his hand he car- 
 ried a black valise. In truth he looked very 
 much like a certain old gentleman of anti- 
 quarian tastes, who is somewhat familiar to us 
 already. "Is the master of the house at 
 home ? " he enquired eagerly. " No sir-r-r ! " 
 said Ellen shortly ; telling the truth, however,
 
 88 ME. PENDLETON'S CUP. 
 
 as Mr. Thorpe was absent in a neighboring 
 city on business. " Then can I see the mis- 
 tress ? " demanded the old gentleman. " No 
 sir ; I'll do your errand, sir, if you have any." 
 "Well," he said in a nervous, hurried manner. 
 " I stopped to make enquiries whether any of 
 your master's family had seen a cup a silver 
 cup which I lost opposite this house, I am 
 positive ! If so, I can prove that I am the 
 rightful owner. I purchased it only a few 
 hours ago, and the receipt of payment is in my 
 pocket." 
 
 Ellen stared blankly for a moment, in utter 
 bewilderment. She thought the man crazy. 
 
 "Why, she exclaimed, "what do you 
 mean ? A cup ? We've seen no cup ! What 
 should we know about your cups or dishes ? " 
 
 " But," remonstrated the old man, " there 
 were two boys at the gate when I passed. 
 Perhaps they will remember. I stumbled I 
 fell and they were looking on, and I must
 
 JOE ; S TEMPTATION. 89 
 
 have lost the cup there I Would you be so 
 good as to " 
 
 "No sir!" came from Ellen's lips; "what 
 do you take my master for ? Do you think 
 any of his family would keep your miserable 
 cup if they had happened to find it ? Good- 
 evening, sir," and slam went the door in his 
 very face. The old gentleman stood on the 
 steps for a moment with a very disconsolate 
 air. Then he passed down the steps into the 
 darkness. Ellen went back to the parlor, con- 
 gratulating herself upon getting rid of " that 
 crazy man " so easily. When there her mis- 
 tress said 
 
 44 Who in the world were you talking to so 
 loudly, Ellen?" 
 
 44 Why, ma'am," she replied, 44 the queer- 
 est old fellow ! as crazy as a loon ! and he 
 tried to make me think some of the family had 
 a cup which belonged to him, as if master's 
 folks would keep that which was not their
 
 90 MR. PENDLETON'S CUP. 
 
 own! But I sent him where he belonged, 
 ma'am." 
 
 And that was all the mistress ever knew 
 about it.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 A FRUITLESS QUEST. 
 
 v OWN the walk into the street passed 
 Mr. Pendleton. The sharp slam of 
 the door rang in his ears and confused 
 his poor old head sadly. He stopped 
 by the gate to look back at the stone cottage, 
 and to mutter 
 
 " This must be the house, and there were 
 two boys standing at the gate ! I remember 
 them both ; but, after all, they might not have 
 found the cup. There's plenty of people 
 passing all the time, I suppose, and there's no 
 telling who picked it up. Alas I alas ! " he 
 cried, beating his breast, " I am undone ! 
 How could I have been so careless ? " 
 
 91
 
 92 MR. PEXDLETOX'S CUP. 
 
 He might well ask that question. It really 
 seemed as if the old gentleman had been 
 rather more absent-minded than usua 1 ; for, 
 after leaving the curiosity-shop, he had placed 
 his new acquisition in the valise, on the top 
 of all his baggage, and then had forgotten to 
 lock it. As the little valise was very full, was 
 it any wonder that the cup slipped from its 
 shallow resting-place when its master stumbled 
 and dropped his baggage? He had gone 
 through the streets in such a hurried, absent 
 manner, that his recollection of things and 
 places was extremely dim. 
 
 When he arrived at his friend Harvey's res- 
 idence, he at once proceeded to show him the 
 wonderful relic which he had been so fortunate 
 to secure ; but on looking in his baggage he 
 found it gone ! Imagine his astonishment and 
 dismay ! So great was the shock that at first 
 the poor antiquary could recollect nothing. 
 Vainly he rubbed his forehead, and pulled at
 
 A FRUITLESS QUEST. * 93 
 
 his gray locks. Where could he have lost it ? 
 For a few minutes it was useless for his friend 
 to question him, he could remember none 
 of the circumstances of his walk. He sank 
 down in an arm-chair, and buried his face in 
 his hands. In this position he sat a long time, 
 while his poor scattered wits came slowly back 
 bit by bit till at last he had some vague 
 recollection of his unfortunate tumble. 
 
 "Ah "he cried, " I have it at last! I 
 see it, now ! I see it ! " 
 
 " Where ? where ? " cried his friend. 
 
 But without waiting to answer, the old gen- 
 tleman seized his valise, and forgetting his cane, 
 rushed out. Down the street he went as fast 
 as ever went old gentleman of his age, straight 
 to the stone cottage before which he stumbled. 
 He remembered seeing two boys at the gate, 
 and had no doubt but what they had picked it 
 up. So he rushed to the front door, rang the
 
 94* MR. PENDLETON'S CUP. 
 
 bell, and met with but poor success, as we 
 have seen. 
 
 And now he stood upon the side-walk, his 
 hopes greatly crushed. He knew not which 
 way to turn. He stared -up and down the 
 side-walk, rubbed his head as he had done in 
 his friend's parlor, and stood stock-still. Then 
 he remembered the little step in the walk, and 
 placing his valise beside the fence, he got down 
 upon his stiff old knees and groped about in 
 the darkness. No cup was there. A man 
 coming up the street stumbled over the 
 crouched figure in the old cloak, and was very 
 wrathful. 
 
 " Take care, old chap ! " said he, " or you'll 
 get into the lockup ! What business have you 
 to be crawling about on your hands and knees 
 in the dark, tripping folks up ? " 
 
 Poor Mr. Pendleton made the best apology 
 he was able, and concluded with :
 
 A FKUITLESS QUEST. 95 
 
 " I'm looking for my cup ; good sir. Have 
 you seen it ? an ancient, thick-rimmed, silver 
 cup ?" 
 
 The man gave a long whistle. " Stark, 
 starring crazy ! " he said pityingly ; "I well, 
 I didn't know that, old chap, or I wouldn't 
 have been so hard on ye," and with this re- 
 mark he passed into the darkness. 
 
 " Crazy, am I ? " muttered the old gentle- 
 man to himself; "well, I begin to believe I 
 am. How could I have lost that cup if I were 
 not?" 
 
 After some deliberation, he took up his valise 
 and entered the yard next to Mr. Thorpe's, 
 passed up the walk, and rang the door-bell. 
 Again a servant answered his call, a servant 
 more polite than Ellen had been, but who re- 
 fused to let him see her master or mistress, and 
 who answered all his questions very briefly, and 
 with much astonishment in her tone. Baffled 
 again, he hurried out to the street, beating his
 
 96 MR. PENDLETON'S CUP. 
 
 breast as he went. " I never shall find it ! " 
 he cried ; " it's no use. I might as well give 
 up." Nevertheless, he continued his search, 
 hoping against hope ; thinking that possibly the 
 cup had rolled out before he stumbled, and that 
 he should find it lying upon the walk. 
 
 Now the stars were out brightly, and as the 
 moon was gone, their light was all he had to 
 guide him, save when the glow from the house- 
 windows streamed across his path. It was a 
 weary search, and of course a fruitless one. 
 
 He reached the little curiosity-shop from 
 whence he had started with his treasure, and 
 then turned to retrace his steps with many a 
 sigh. A hundred times he cried out against 
 his thoughtlessness, and what with beating his 
 breast, and muttering to himself, it was no 
 wonder that people thought the strange figure 
 had broken loose from the Insane Asylum. 
 
 He found his friend anxiously waiting his 
 appearance. Mr. Harvey himself began to
 
 A FRUITLESS QUEST. 9T 
 
 have doubts whether the old gentleman was 
 quite clothed in his right mind, and it was 
 a great relief to see him come back safe and 
 sound. He knew by the way the old gentle- 
 man's head drooped that his search had not 
 been successful, and made haste to comfort 
 him. 
 
 " Come, cheer up, sir," he exclaimed ; 
 " there's nothing like keeping up good spirits. 
 The cup must be somewhere in the city, and 
 we can recover it without much trouble I think. 
 We'll set the police to hunting it up ; they're 
 great for ferretting out such things, sir." 
 Whereupon Mr. Pendleton was so much com- 
 forted that he partook of some biscuit, and 
 drank a cup of tea. In the meantime, Mr. 
 Harvey slipped out and called a cab, well- 
 knowing that his friend's aged limbs would not 
 carry him much farther that night. So, when 
 the old gentleman had finished his slight repast, 
 he was bundled into the cab. Mi*. Harvey took
 
 98 MR. PENDLETON'S CUP. 
 
 his place beside him, and ordered the coach- 
 man to drive to police-headquarters. 
 
 After a long ride through many streets, the 
 cab stopped before a building in the central 
 part of the city, and the old gentleman was 
 helped out. 
 
 " There," said his friend, " now collect your 
 thoughts a little, for you'll have to answer some 
 questions. This is the headquarters of the 
 police the city-police and we are going to 
 put the matter in their hands. If any one can 
 find the cup, 'tis they. Ready to go in, sir?" 
 
 Yes, Mr. Pendleton was quite ready to do 
 anything which promised to be the means of 
 finding his lost treasure, and after directing the 
 cab-man to wait their return, Mr. Harvey led 
 the way in. The room which they entered 
 was not very well lighted, but it disclosed 
 several policemen with bright stars on their 
 breasts, who were lounging about a gloomy 
 coal-stove. At a desk, strewn with papers, sat
 
 A FRUITLESS QUEST 99 
 
 an elderly man, before whom Mr. Harvey at 
 once led his friend. The policemen around 
 the stove stared hard at the old gentleman, and 
 doubtless thought that a subject for a mad- 
 house was about to be committed to their charge. 
 
 " Well, Captain, 7 ' said Mr. Harvey, address- 
 ing the elderly gentleman, " my friend, here, 
 has lost a cup. We want to put the matter in 
 your hands." 
 
 "Very well," said the Captain briskly, 
 " give us the particulars." 
 
 As he said this he looked straight at the old 
 antiquary, took up his pen, and signified that 
 he was ready. Now Mr. Pendleton could no 
 more have given the whole sum and substance 
 of the affair in one continuous narrative, than 
 he could have produced his missing treasure by 
 magic. This the Captain of Police soon per- 
 ceived, for the old gentleman wandered off in 
 long accounts of different articles of virtu which 
 he had collected ; and, though it was doubtless
 
 tOO MB. PENDLETON'S CUP. 
 
 very interesting to himself, it annoyed the 
 Captain sadly. 
 
 " Stop ! stop ! " he cried presently, " I can't 
 make head or tail of this. What kind of a cup 
 did you say it was ? " 
 
 " Silver, sir," replied the antiquarian meekly. 
 
 " What style ? " 
 
 "Antique, with clusters of leaves and 
 stems upon a ground of fretted " , 
 
 " Hold ! that's sufficient. We don't want 
 all the particulars. Is there any name upon it, 
 or any peculiar mark by which we can identify 
 it?" 
 
 " Yes sir ! " cried Mr. Pendleton eagerly, 
 " there's an old-fashioned Z upon the bottom 
 of it. It's cut in deep and plain. It's the 
 mark " 
 
 "That'll do. I think I know something 
 about it now. A silver cup antique style 
 with a Z upon the bottom of it. Now where 
 did you lose it ? "
 
 A FRUITLESS QUEST.. 101 
 
 This question was harder to answer. He 
 could not tell for a certainty, but thought he 
 lost it in front of a brown stone cottage in 
 
 " Oh," interrupted the Captain, u then il 
 was not stolen ? Hum um-m that's a dif- 
 ferent matter ! You lost it yourself. Why, 
 were you carrying it in your hands ? " 
 
 44 No, sir, it was in my valise," replied the 
 old gentleman. 
 
 " Then I suppose you lost valise and all,*' 
 said the captain, " and want us " 
 
 44 Oh, no, sir," said Mr. Pendleton, "the 
 valise is safe and sound." 
 
 44 Well, then, please explain what you do 
 mean ! " said the captain with annoyance. 
 
 Here Mr. Harvey interposed to say- 
 
 44 His valise was open, and he supposes that 
 he lost it when he stumbled over a step in 
 the walk on Bray Street. He thinks it rolled 
 out then, and hat some passer-by has picked it 
 up."
 
 102 MR. PENDLETOX'S CUP. 
 
 The captain of police gave a great stare of 
 astonishment at hearing how the treasure was 
 lost, and scrutinizing our worthy antiquarian 
 keenly, he looked at Mr. Harvey and tapped 
 his forehead significantly. 
 
 " No," said that gentleman in a low tone, 
 k he isn't crazy, only a trifle odd, and very 
 absent-minded." 
 
 " I should say so," remarked the captain, 
 drily; and then to the old gentleman "Well, 
 sir, if that is the way you lost your cup, I 
 advise you to advertise by all means. Offer a 
 good big reward, and you'll probably gpt it. 
 There's nothing like offering a fat reward ! 
 How much was the cup worth ? " 
 
 "A thousand dollars," answered Mr. Pen- 
 dleton, who, by this time, had begun to lose 
 heart. 
 
 At this reply the captain's face betrayed 
 great incredulity, very likely he thought, the 
 old gentleman was under the influence of ue
 
 A FRUITLESS QUEST. 103 
 
 of his absent-minded fits, but Mr. Harvey 
 said 
 
 " It's quite true. That's the sum he paid 
 for it this very night. You see, it's a rarity 
 a great rarity ; there's not another like it in 
 existence. Now, rather than lose it he will 
 pay almost any sum." 
 
 " Good gracious ! " said the officer in an un- 
 dertone, " to think of carrying a thousand 
 dollars about in the top of an open valise ! 
 Well, well, it's all sorts of folks that it takes 
 to make the world, and it's my opinion he's 
 one of 'em ; " and turning to the antiquary he 
 said " Now I think of it, what reason have 
 you to think that it was not stolen from your 
 valise as you walked along? Of course you 
 were in a crowd more than once, and what 
 was there to hinder it's being removed ? " 
 
 Surely, here was a predicament ! Neither 
 the old gentleman nor his friend had thought 
 of such a thing before ; but, as the captain had
 
 104 MR. PENDLETON'S CUP. 
 
 said, what was there to hinder its removal ? 
 The old man was dismayed, and would hardly 
 have noticed the loss if the whole contents of 
 the valise had been removed. 
 
 " Yes ! " said the captain, with a faint trace 
 of a smile upon his features, " it would be the 
 easiest thing in the world to do ! Why, a raw 
 hand at the business could have done it ; and 
 if that is the way it was done as I am in- 
 clined to think why, sir, I must say the 
 chances of recovering it are very few. You 
 could only hope to get it by offering a reward 
 which was greater than it's value.'* 
 
 At these words his confidence in the po- 
 lice all gone our poor antiquarian dropped 
 down in a chair with a heavy sigh. He wished 
 he had never left quiet, peaceable Darnleigh to 
 follow such a wild-goose chase. He longed 
 for the comfort of his easy-chair, and the quiet 
 of his great dusty rooms. His limbs ached, 
 and his head throbbed violently, and he was
 
 A FRUITLESS QUEST. 105 
 
 very much disgusted with the world at large. 
 He mentally vowed that if ever he got safely 
 back to the delicious solitude of his cabinet, 
 not all the silver cups that could be crowded 
 into Morton's curiosity-shop should tempt him 
 out again. 
 
 " But,' 7 said the Captain, after some medita- 
 tion, " there's one consolation ; not one person 
 in a thousand would suspect the real value of 
 this cup. You may safely conclude that who- 
 ever has found it, or stolen it, will never dream 
 that it's worth more than its weight in silver. 
 That, you see, is to your advantage, for you 
 can offer a reward accordingly. A hundred 
 dollars, to commence with, would be quite fair, 
 I should say." 
 
 At this, Mr. Pendleton brightened up a 
 little. 
 
 " And," continued the Captain, " there's 
 another thing to be done. You must put all 
 the jewellers on the watch for it, and then, if it
 
 106 MR. PEXDLETON'S CUP. 
 
 is offered for sale, both cup and thief can be 
 secured. But to this part of the business we 
 can attend, if you wish. The advertising you 
 had better do. Now, sir, for my instructions." 
 
 The Captain had evidently been hindered 
 long enough with Mr. Pendleton's troubles, 
 and was getting impatient. Mr. Harvey looked 
 around at his friend, saw that he looked very 
 tired and warm, and accordingly took the busi- 
 ness into his own hands. 
 
 " Well, Captain, said he, " do your best to 
 look it up, and we'll do our best. Don't spare 
 any money or pains to find it. And if you'll 
 hand me that pen by your elbow, I'll write the 
 reward, and have it out in the morning papers/' 
 
 The Captain handed over the pen as desired, 
 and Mr. Harvey wrote, offering one hun- 
 dred dollars for the return of the cup. Of 
 course all necessary descriptions were given, 
 and directions as to the place where it should 
 be left. Then he bade the Captain good-
 
 A FRUITLESS QUEST. 107 
 
 evening, assisted the old gentleman back to the 
 cab, and ordered the driver to set them down 
 at the Courier office as speedily as possible. 
 
 By this time the streets were getting thinned 
 of vehicles somewhat, and they travelled rap- 
 idly. After the lapse of a few minutes the 
 cab stopped, and there was the dingy Courier 
 building before them, with flaming jets of gas 
 in the windows, and the clanking and rumbling 
 of the presses filling the air. Only Mr. Harvey 
 got out, and he speedily returned. And then 
 they were whirled away homeward. 
 
 Ah, this wonderful cup was not such a very 
 fortunate possession after all. You see that 
 poor Mr. Pendleton was nearly worn out with 
 bustle and anxiety on account of it ; and was 
 not poor Joe Gray quite as much to be pitied ? 
 And all this time it lay snugly under Harry 
 Thorpe's pillow, who seemed to be the least 
 disturbed by its existence of any one into whose 
 hands it had fallen.
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 YIELDING TO TEMPTATION. 
 
 |ALE dawn-light trembled in the East, 
 
 the clear, shining, unclouded East 
 
 and soon warm flashes of light flew 
 up the sky and burned ruddily there. 
 
 The city's steeples stood up soft and gray 
 against this rosy glow, and when at last the 
 molten rim of the sun pushed up behind the 
 hiUs it set the tower-windows and the burn- 
 isLa .. vanes and weather-cocks all a-flame. 
 And when the sun had cleared itself from the 
 bills, and had risen above the line of slated 
 roofs, some of its stray beams wandered into 
 Joe Gray's little window, fell across his eye* 
 
 lids, and awoke him. 
 108
 
 YIELDING TO TEMPTATION. 109 
 
 Joe opened his eyes, looked around upon 
 the bare little room, and yawned prodigiously. 
 He felt very faint and stupid, and not at all 
 like getting up. Very likely he would have 
 taken another nap had not Mrs. Jumper's 
 shrill voice cried at the foot of the stairs 
 
 " Joe ! Joe Gray, get up this minnit I 
 you'll lose your breakfast if you don't." 
 
 Now by thib time he felt quite too hungry 
 to lose another meal, and accordingly made 
 haste to obey Mrs. Jumper's commands. Shiv- 
 ering in the chilly air of the garret, he drew 
 on his ragged garments and the old boots, and 
 hastily descended the dark stairs. Jumper had 
 eaten breakfast and gone to his work. But 
 the five little Jumpers were ranged around the 
 table, and their mother was busily engaged in 
 filling their mouths. 
 
 " Come 1 " said she, as Joe appeared, " don't 
 stand shiverin' over that stove. If ye expect
 
 110 MR. PEXDLETOX'S CUP. 
 
 anything to eat ye'll have to get it pretty 
 quick. Laws knows it's goin' fast enough ! " 
 
 Thus admonished, Joe came around to his 
 corner of the table and sat down on a rough 
 stool which Jumper had fashioned. 
 
 " Pan-cakes and soup," said the busy moth- 
 er of the fi\e ; " which '11 ye take ? " 
 
 " Soup," said Joe, inhaling the appetizing 
 odor. Mrs. Jumper ladled out a plateful of 
 the broth, adding two potatoes, a very small 
 fragment of meat, and a slice of bread. 
 
 " There," said she, " don't go to callin' for 
 more. That's all we can spare this morning. 
 Takes a plaguy sight to fill these young uns." 
 
 Joe thought so too, as the hungry five were 
 on their third plateful. One was supposed to 
 be enough for him. And he had not had a 
 mouthful since the scanty crust of yesterday 
 noon. However, Jumper's children had the 
 best right, and Joe was not at all inclined to
 
 YIELDING TO TEMPTATION. Ill 
 
 find fault this morning. He was only too glad 
 to get anything with which to stay the gnaw- 
 ing of his stomach. 
 
 Mrs. Jumper was in better humor on this 
 occasion ; the angry flush had died out of her 
 cheeks leaving them pale and sallow, and, for 
 a wonder, her back hair was twisted into its 
 place. This last bit of tidiness was always a 
 sure sign that Mrs. Jumper was in a pleasant 
 mood. And now when Joe had finished his 
 scanty allowance of soup, she added an extra 
 potato, for which the boy was very grateful ; 
 and having eaten this he went back to his seat 
 at the stove. The fire roared and sparkled in 
 the old stove, and shed a grateful warmth 
 round about, and the boy thought it one con- 
 solation that, if he could not get enough to eat, 
 at least there was genial heat enough and to 
 spare. 
 
 While sitting here he suddenly remembered 
 the cup ! A thought of it had not entered his
 
 112 MR. PENDLETON'S CUP. 
 
 head before that morning, and now he remem- 
 bered that he had agreed to meet Harry at 
 eight o'clock. He looked up at the dingy, 
 smoke-stained time-piece behind the stove, and 
 saw it lacked fifteen minutes of the appointed 
 time. Hurriedly he took up his battered cap 
 to go, when Mrs. Jumper called out 
 
 "Where ye goin'?" 
 
 " Up the street," replied Joe, rather in- 
 definitely, " and then I'm going to school." 
 
 " Well," said she, after a silence in which 
 Joe had waited in some trepidation, u go long 
 with ye ! But remember, though, that you 
 have got to wind up matters at school. Get all 
 ready to leave Friday night ! " 
 
 " Yes," said Joe faintly, and went out. 
 
 Oh, what a lovely morning it was. Frost- 
 crystals spangled everything, and glittered like 
 splintered diamonds on all the bare fence-posts, 
 and the spots on the flagging where the snow 
 had melted, or been swept off. Great columns
 
 YIELDING TO TEMPTATION. 115 
 
 of blue smoke crept up sluggishly into the rosy 
 air, and hung about the spires and towers till it 
 turned to golden haze in the sunshine. The 
 great city had stirred to life, and there was a 
 cheery bustle everywhere. Milk-men rattled 
 about with their cans, and baker's carts were 
 rumbling up and down, carrying hot biscuit for 
 people's breakfasts. Cabs and coaches were 
 carrying people to the depot, to catch the 
 morning train. Early business-men, in com- 
 fortable over-coats, were hurrying to their 
 offices. Shop-girls, with their little dinner- 
 baskets, were tripping briskly to work, now 
 in light-hearted, merry knots, chattering like 
 magpies ; and again there were solitary figures 
 who looked as if they had just come to the city 
 and were yet homesick. 
 
 All this busy life pleased Joe as he walked 
 along, and somehow sent a cheerier thrill 
 through his heart. It all looked as if there 
 were an abundance of happy, comfortable
 
 114 MR. PENDLETON'S CUP. 
 
 people in the world, and very likely he thought 
 there was some chance for him to taste some- 
 thing of this life. 
 
 He passed a market where the butchers dis- 
 played great sides of beef, and where legs of 
 mutton, veal, chickens and turkeys hung in 
 festoons on the wall. At one stall a man was 
 serving up hot meals for the laborers who were 
 going to their work. Joe lingered a minute to 
 enjoy the appetizing odors which were wafted 
 from this capacious eating-place. Oh, how 
 delicious the ham and eggs, the roast oysters, 
 and the hot rolls smelt ! And the odorous 
 clouds of steam which rose from the coffee-cups 
 were fairly tantalizing to the hungry boy. 
 Again to him, as he stood there, came the 
 vision of the cup. It was just as if it said 
 " What a fool you are, Joe Gray ! The idea 
 of giving up such a treasure ! Why, boy, it 
 will get you a hundred such breakfasts as 
 these, to say nothing of all the rest of the 
 good things which it will buy."
 
 YIELDING TO TEMPTATION. ' 11{ 
 
 " Oh, dear ! " sighed Joe, " I mustn't stan*' 
 here ! 1 mustn't think of it ! " and straight- 
 way he turned his back to it all, not daring to 
 allow himself another look at the tempting 
 viands. So, you see, no matter which way he 
 turned, there stood the Tempter with his wiles 
 and blandishments. Everywhere, everywhere 
 there was something to allure him. Will it be 
 very strange if he yields ? 
 
 Along the pavement Joe hurried, and did 
 his best to drive away all thoughts of tempta- 
 tion. Presently he began to whistle a mer- 
 ry whistle it tried to be but fell very far 
 short of that. The keen air crept in through 
 Ihe holes in his boots, and, benumbed his toes 
 sadly. Then he began to run, partly for 
 warmth, and partly to run away from the 
 Tempter. But that Evil one ran quite as fast 
 as poor Joe did, and was present every mo- 
 ment. He could no more run away from him 
 than from his own .shadow, in fact, I think
 
 Xl6 MR. PENDLETON'S CUP. 
 
 that all unknown to the poor boy the 
 Tempter was riding upon his shoulder. 
 
 A long way he carried this burden, from 
 the butcher's stall up to the aristocratic part 
 of the city, where he came into the street 
 lined with brown-stone houses. He passed the 
 little step in the pavement with trembling. 
 What could there be to tremble at ? 
 
 In a minute more he stood at Harry's gate, 
 and then the Tempter left him for a little 
 time, or rather he forgot his presence in the 
 pressure of other thoughts which came into 
 bis mind. How should he find Harry ? 
 Would those rich, grand people let such a 
 ragged fellow as himself into their nice house ? 
 Would not that disagreeable servant-girl drive 
 Jiiin away ? 
 
 He lingered at the gate till he was too cold 
 to stand still any longer, but no Harry made 
 his appearance. Softly he lifted the gate-latch, 
 and went up the nice walk in much trepida-
 
 YIELDING TO TEMPTATION. 117 
 
 tion. He would not have been at all surprised 
 had some one opened the front door and bade 
 him leave the premises. But the elegant front 
 door with its rich plate glittering in the sun, 
 did not open, and he reached the corner of the 
 house in safety. Here he followed the walk 
 around to the kitchen-door, and after a few 
 minutes of hesitation at last mustered courage 
 enough to rap. After some waiting, the door 
 opened letting out a savory smell of break- 
 fast and there stood Ellen, the house-maid. 
 
 "Well?" she said sharply, eyeing him witn 
 very cold eyes. 
 
 " Can I see Harry ? " asked Joe, timidly. 
 
 " See Harry ! he isn't up yet," said Ellen, 
 coldly. 
 
 " But can I wait till till he till you call 
 him ? " ventured Joe. 
 
 " Master Harry doesn't like to be called 
 mornings. He gets up when he pleases. I 
 shouldn't like to disturb him." It was vory
 
 118 MR. PENDLETON'S cap. 
 
 plain that Ellen meant to keep Harr; Thorpe's 
 friend out. 
 
 " But," said Joe faintly, " he told me to 
 come. He told me to come here at eight 
 o'clock." 
 
 The house-maid frowned. " I wish Master 
 Harry would give up his foolish notions," said 
 she ; " I'm out of patience with him ! bring- 
 ing beggars and all kinds of trash here to 
 bother me. Say, what do you want of him ? " 
 
 Joe turned very red, but did not answer. 
 
 " Come," said the cook from within, " if you 
 ^on't shut that door breakfast '11 freeze up ! " 
 
 " Yes, in a minute, cook," said Ellen ; then 
 turning to Joe she said : 
 
 "Well, I 'spose you've got to come in. 
 But don't you never coine here again to see 
 him, for if you do I'll tell his father, and have 
 a stop put to this business. Mercy ! what 
 boots you've got on. You'll track the stair- 
 carpet all up, and I shall have to sweep after
 
 YIELDING TO TEMPTATION. 119 
 
 you. But I 'spose you'd haye to see him if 
 you broke the stairs down with walking up 'em. 
 Come along this way ! Take care ! don't 
 touch the wall-paper with your clothes." 
 
 Now Ellen was one of those persons, who, 
 when they cannot have their own way, are de- 
 termined to revenge themselves by making 
 other people as uncomfortable as possible. 
 And with poor Joe she succeeded. After she 
 had piloted him through a dim hall, where his 
 feet sunk noiselessly into a soft carpet - such a 
 wonderful thing Joe had never seen she 
 stopped at the foot of a broad flight of stairs, 
 saying : 
 
 " Now go up these stairs, and you'll find a 
 hall. His is the first door you come to, and 
 look here ! don't you stop to look at things. 
 Keep straight on, and mind your business. 
 Now go along with you." 
 
 Joe gladly obeyed. He was not at all sorry 
 .to hear this disagreeable servant go back to the
 
 120 MR. PEXDLETON'S CUP. 
 
 kitchen. At the first door in the hall he 
 rapped, obeying Ellen's injunction strictly, and 
 looking neither to the right nor left. No one 
 answered, and he rapped again. Still no voice 
 bade him enter, and he lingered in some doubt 
 by the door. Then he rattled the knob a 
 little, and finally ventured to turn it. The 
 door swung open, and revealed Harry sound 
 asleep asleep in such a beautiful, wonderful 
 room as poor Joe had never set eyes upon. 
 " Oh, he lives like a prince ! " he cried to him- 
 self, and with these words there was the 
 Tempter back once more ! Softly he entered, 
 and softly he closed the door behind him, and 
 stood silently in that sleeping-room, upon which 
 wealth had lavished every adornment. 
 
 " T declare ! " said Joe to himself, with a 
 little bitter laugh, " I don't wonder that he 
 thinks it's a dreadful thing to be poor ! He to 
 - be troubled because he's poor ! " 
 
 Then he went up to the bedside and touched
 
 YIELDING TO TEMPTATION. 121 
 
 his friend's face gently, and whispered in his 
 ear "Harry I" Whereupon Harry awoke 
 with a little start, and stared blankly at his 
 friend a moment before he was released from 
 sleep's chain enough to comprehend anything. 
 
 " Oh, it's you, Joe, is it ? " he exclaimed ; 
 " well, I am sleepy this morning ! " and upon 
 that he yawned so prodigiously that he could 
 say no more. At last : 
 
 " Well, Fm glad to see you, anyhow, Joe ! 
 Why, how did you find your .way up ? " 
 
 " The woman in the kitchen showed me," 
 said Joe. 
 
 "Cook? Ellen? well, it was good of 
 her, anyhow ! I wouldn't have believed she 
 would have done me such a good turn. Now 
 sit down, Joe, for I'm in no hurry to get up. 
 I want to talk about the the you know ! " 
 and putting his hand under the pillow next hia 
 head, drew out the wonderful thing of beauty.
 
 122 MR. PENDLETON'S CUP. 
 
 " O-h-h-h ! " exclaimed Joe, with dazzled 
 eyes, "I didn't know it was so beautiful." 
 
 Harry placed it on the little stand by the 
 head of the bed, where the sunbeams fell 
 straight across it. Its burnished sides fairly 
 blazed, and lit every fragment of the wonder- 
 ful work. Around the sides was twined a 
 rough-stemmed vine with fritted bark, its 
 roughness and thorniness relieved by graceful 
 leaves with clinging tendrils. And running in 
 a wavy pattern under vine and leaf, was the 
 wonderful arabesque of frost-work, precisely 
 like the frost-spangles which he had seen 
 upon stone and fence that very morning, Joe 
 thought, which sparkled so marvelously in 
 the sunbeams. Oh, what a thing of beauty ! 
 and what wonders it would buy ! 
 
 "Well," said Harry, when both had ad- 
 mired it sometime in almost breathless silenco, 
 " it is beautiful, and no mistake ! Papa hasn't
 
 JOE AND HARRY ADMIRING THE CUP. Page 122,
 
 YIELDING TO TEMPTATION. LZO 
 
 anything amongst all his silver things cue-half 
 so nice ! no, not one quarter." 
 
 Joe said not one word, but sat silently 
 gazing upon his treasure, while down deep in 
 his heart there was the same fierce struggle 
 of the previous night going on. He felt he 
 knew what a wretched contrast he made, with 
 his rags and seediness, to the luxury around 
 him. He longed, oh ! so much ! for just a 
 taste of comfort and neatness ; for books ; for 
 something to eat ; but most of all for school. 
 Only one more day, and then Here Harry 
 interrupted with, " Well, Joe, I suppose you're 
 going to decide about this, aren't you ? and 
 this morning, too." 
 
 " Yes," said Joe, with the warm color com- 
 ing and going in his cheeks, " I'm going to 
 decide about it this morning." 
 
 " Are you really ? " said Harry ; " well, I'm 
 glad of it ! Now which are you going to do : 
 keep it, or not ? "
 
 124 ME. PENDLETON'S CUP. 
 
 Joe wavered a moment, looked pleadingly 
 into his friend's face as if for an encouraging 
 word, then said 
 
 " 1 will keep it." 
 
 Well, the Tempter conquered that time, as 
 he has before done so many, many times. 
 But, before you judge Joe too harshly, remem- 
 ber his temptations ! Ah, boys, what one of 
 you, being in his place ragged, hungry, de- 
 spised and abused, and at the point of being 
 taken from the school which you loved so 
 intensely would have had the courage to 
 restored the treasure, lived on the same dreary 
 life, when it was in your power to change all 
 this to luxury and plenty ?
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 A HEAVY HEART. 
 
 ARRY sprang out of bed, and put 
 both his arms around his friend's 
 neck. " you dear Joe ! " said he, 
 " now we can go together to school, 
 and you'll not lose your place in the class. 
 And you can have new clothes, and boots and 
 books, and plenty to eat ! O, Joe, what good 
 fortune I " and thought not at all of the sin 
 of tempting one's friend. 
 
 But the other did. He did not look joyful 
 or merry in the least, nor did he return his 
 friend's caress. At which Harry's face grew 
 sober very suddenly, and he exclaimed 
 
 125
 
 126 MR. PEXDLETCXN'S CUP. 
 
 " Good gracious ! you look as grave as an 
 owl. Why, what makes you ? " 
 
 " Am I sober ? " asked Joe, with a wretched 
 laugh ; " well, I don't want my head turned at 
 the sight of so much money or what will 
 soon be money. I'm not used to it, you 
 know." 
 
 "I know,'' said Harry, reflectively, "but 
 you do look most dreadful dismal. Why, are 
 you sorry you decided to keep it ? " 
 
 "No-no," said Joe, resolutely; "I'm going 
 to keep it. I'm going to school, and I'm going 
 to have books and everything nice. How 
 much shall I lend you till next quarter ? " he 
 added with a laugh. 
 
 " Not a penny ! " said Harry, looking at his 
 friend to see whether he were really pleased, 
 or whether it was all a pretext to hide the 
 heart-ache ; " you'll need every cent of it, 
 Joe. But where will you sell it ? " 
 
 " Oh, there's places enough, I suppose,"
 
 A HEAVY HEAET. 127 
 
 said Joe, indifferently ; " I'll sell it where they 
 will give me most. Why," he exclaimed sud- 
 denly, "how Jumper would stare to see me 
 with a decent suit of clothes on ! and how 
 Mrs. Jumper would throw up her hands ! " 
 and at the thought Joe laughed rather hy- 
 sterically. 
 
 "Don't!" said Harry, "you laugh so dis- 
 mally ! I never " 
 
 The sharp peal of a bell cut him short. 
 Joe started up trembling, at which his friend 
 laughed, and said 
 
 " It's only the breakfast bell, and my stars, 
 Joe ! I'm not half-dressed. What will mamma 
 say?" 
 
 Joe was gazing steadfastly on the cup. 
 Somehow it didn't seem so beautiful to him 
 after he had really decided to make it his own. 
 
 "Now," said Harry, as he hurried on his 
 clothes, " when will you .sell it ? That's the 
 next thing to do." Joe made no reply. "For
 
 123 MR. PENDLETON'S CUP. 
 
 you see," he continued, " you want the money 
 pretty soon to pay your school-bill. You're 
 out to-monrow, you know." 
 
 " Yes," said Joe, abstractedly. 
 
 " But there isn't time this morning, for it 
 must be school-time already. So you'll have 
 to wait. But how would to-morrow morning, 
 do?" 
 
 " Well enough," said Joe ; " are you going 
 with me ? " 
 
 " Yes, if you want me to. Perhaps if you 
 tried to sell it they might take you for a - a " 
 
 " Thief! " said Joe, with red cheeks ; " yes, 
 I know ! I'd rather you'd sell it. I don't 
 believe I could do it." 
 
 " Well," said Harry, as he donned his nice 
 jacket, " when we've got the money, you'll 
 pay the school-bill first, I suppose ; then you'll 
 want new clothes, and then oh, Joe, where 
 is the hair-brush ? I'm dreadful late for break- 
 fast this morning! and then, as I was saying,
 
 A HEAVY HEART. 129 
 
 why, here 'tis under my coat, and then, 
 as I've been trying to say two or three times, 
 you'll want books ; and by that time there'll be 
 a great hole in the money." 
 
 " Yes," said Joe dubiously, " it can't last 
 always." * 
 
 " But perhaps you'll find another by that 
 time," laughed Harry, busy before the glass. 
 
 " Oh, no ! I hope not ! " cried Joe suddenly ; 
 " I don't want them ! I wish I'd never seen 
 this." 
 
 Harry said " Pshaw ! " and looked at his 
 friend's unhappy face in the glass. 
 
 " He's getting alarmed and nervous," he said 
 to himself, then aloud : 
 
 " I'm going down now, Joe. Will you stay 
 here till I'm through breakfast ? " 
 
 Joe looked at his rags and hesitated. 
 
 " What will they say ? " he asked. 
 
 " Who ? O, mamma won't say a word ! 
 I'll be back in fifteen minutes, and then we'lJ
 
 130 MR. PENDLETON'S CUP. 
 
 start for school. Tumble over the books, or 
 anything that pleases you," and Harry ran off 
 down stairs. 
 
 Joe lingered in his chair till his friend's foot- 
 
 
 
 steps quite died away, and then walked to the 
 tempting pile of books which lay some on 
 the floor and some on the rack. Drawing a 
 long sigh, he sat down by the pile on the floor. 
 What could there be for Joe Gray to sigh 
 about ? Was he not presently to be well-fed, 
 well-clothed, and well-schooled ? Listlessly he 
 turned over volume after volume, to find that 
 they had lost their accustomed interest for him. 
 What could be the reason? "I'm dreadful 
 stupid this morning ! " thought he to himself; 
 " I can't read a word in these books that I've 
 been longing to see. Oh I what a fortunate 
 fellow Harry is ! to have all these books on 
 one birthday, besides the pony. And see the 
 leaves he hasn't cut ! Oh, I don't believe he's 
 read one of these yet." With this, his eyes
 
 A HEAVY HEART. 131 
 
 left the books, and wandered about the pretty, 
 sui.shiny room. " Not much like mine ! " said 
 he to himself, as he looked at pictures and 
 ornaments, and articles of clothing lying about. 
 " Why, Harry must have a jacket for every 
 day in the week, and one of those pictures 
 even the smallest would buy me a suit of 
 clothes." " But you've presently to have 
 enough of everything ; " said something within 
 him. At this, he turned back to the books 
 with the same weary sigh. Above him, on the 
 little stand, stood the cup, and as it spangled 
 and gleamed in the sunbeams, a dazzling ray 
 smote his eyes now and then. This glitter did 
 not look half so lovely as it had done, and he 
 exclaimed impatiently " O, I wish Harry 
 would come and put that hateful thing out of 
 sight ! It dazzles me and puts my eyes out ! 
 And I really believe I wish it had never been 
 found after all.'* 
 
 But Harry was gone at least half-an-hour in-
 
 182 MR. PENDLETON'S CUP. 
 
 stead of fifteen minutss. It must have been 
 nearly nine o'clock when Joe heard him come 
 slowly up stairs whistling " The Gem of the 
 Ocean.'' At the top of the stairs he quickened 
 his pace, and came bounding into the room 
 with : 
 
 "I say, Joe, but you've had to wait a long 
 time, haven't you ? And, if you'll believe me, 
 it's nine o'clock already, and time for the 
 school-bell to ring ! We've got to hurry." 
 
 Joe got up from his seat on the floor. 
 
 " How did you like my books ? Isn't there 
 a pile of 'em ? Come, fly around, Joe 1 
 Where's my overcoat? '' rattled Harry; " and 
 what are you going to do with the cup this 
 morning? " 
 
 " Leave it with you," said Joe soberly, " if 
 you'll keep it. I haven't a place to put it, you 
 know." 
 
 " Well, just as you say. Let me see, 
 where can I hide it ? Ellen will be sweeping
 
 A HEAVY HEART. 133 
 
 and rummaging about up here to-day, and if 
 she should find it, well, we should lose it, I 
 suppose ! But I know a safe place, Joe, where 
 Ellen nor mamma never look. Here 'tis, right 
 in this drawer my drawer and I've got the 
 key to it. Bring on the cnp, and put it in 
 here." 
 
 Joe complied, and Harry locked the drawer 
 and put the key in his pocket. 
 
 " Now 't will be as safe," said he, " as though 
 ; t was in a bank- vault. But we must hurry off 
 to school ! Help me on with this overcoat, 
 will you, Joe ? there's a good fellow." Then 
 they were ready. 
 
 " Now come on ! " cried Harry, and led the 
 way down, along the hall, out into the kitchen, 
 and from there they speedily ran out on to the 
 walk. 
 
 " Let's walk fast, Joe," said his friend, aa 
 they passed around the house ; " we'll have 
 tardy marks, already, I guess."
 
 184 MR. PENDLETOX'S CTjP. 
 
 Joe said hardly a word during all the long 
 walk, and Harry whistled to his heart's content, 
 without any interruption. 
 
 Arrived at school, they found it had been 
 commenced five minutes. " Tardy marks 
 against both of you," said the teacher, as they 
 entered, " unless you've brought an excuse." 
 
 " We haven't," said Harry ; u it's our own 
 fault." 
 
 Now, though this little circumstance had 
 happened to Joe more than once before, yet 
 this morning it depressed his spirits very much. 
 He went to his seat, took out his books, and 
 found that he could not study any more than 
 he could read in Harry's books a half-hour be- 
 fore. What could be the reason, think you ? 
 Listlessly he turned over leaf after leaf, his 
 heart growing more and more miserable every 
 minute. He looked through the window be- 
 hind him upon the fair, blue sky. Soft 
 rounded clouds had risen, and were floating
 
 A HEAVY HEART. loO 
 
 brightly everywhere ; but sunshine nor clouds, 
 nor fair blue sky pleased him at all. He 
 looked across to the seat where his friend sat. 
 Harry's brow was drawn up into a number of 
 wrinkles, over a sum in his arithmetic, but that 
 appeared to be the greatest of his troubles, for 
 when he chanced to look up* and meet Joe's 
 heavy eyes, he smiled very brightly. " I be- 
 lieve he would laugh," said Joe to himself, " if 
 everything went to destruction ! " and his 
 friend's cheerfulness only made his own heart 
 more heavy. By-and by his class was called 
 upon the floor, and to everybody's surprise, 
 poor Joe failed most miserably. 
 
 " Joseph," said the teacher kindly, " are 
 you ill ? " Something in the boy's thin face 
 touched him. " He doesn't look as if he had 
 enough to eat," said he to himself, " and a boy 
 that don't eat can't study." 
 
 44 No. sir ; I'm not ill," said Joe, in much
 
 1-36 MR. PENDLETOX'S CUP. 
 
 confusion, "but I I I couldn't study tins 
 morning." 
 
 " Very well," said the teacher, " I'll excuse 
 you this morning, J.oseph. You may take 
 your seat." 
 
 And Joe took his seat and hid his face. 
 Don't you think.it was strange conduct for a 
 boy who, ere another day had fled, was to be 
 in possession of quite a little fortune ? who 
 was to have that which his heart desired 
 most? 
 
 Joe's teacher was somewhat surprised, be- 
 cause the boy was one of the most studious 
 and faithful in his class, and nothing short of 
 illness, he thought, could have made his lesson 
 such a failure ; so he granted him an indul- 
 gence which he would not have given to any 
 of those well-fed, smartly-dressed boys before 
 him. Presently Joe raised his head from the 
 4esk and took up his Philosophy.
 
 A HEAVY HEART. 1ST 
 
 u I'll be perfect on this, anyhow," said he to 
 himself; "I won't get excused on another 
 lesson ! " 
 
 And putting his hands over his ears to shut 
 out all sounds, he tried to bring his thoughts 
 upon the day's lesson. But do all he would, 
 they persisted in running upon another subject, 
 and that was the cup ! 
 
 " Cup ! cup ! cup ! cup ! CUP ! CUP ! " cried 
 poor Joe to himself, u nothing but cup ! O, 
 I wish I had never found it ! I wish it were 
 in the sea ! I wish it's owner had it ! " 
 
 " But, my dear Joe," said something within 
 him, " bear up and be a man, for you're pres- 
 ently to be rich ! " 
 
 And then he shivered and stopped his ears 
 tighter, and essayed to study his lesson. Such 
 heaviness of heart the boy had never known, 
 and he was troubled and fearful beside. He 
 fancied and it was nothing but fancy that 
 his teacher regarded him suspiciously. " Can
 
 138 MR. PENDLETON'S CUP. 
 
 he have found out ? can he know about the 
 cup ? " he fearfully asked himself, then 
 laughed at his own fears the next minute. At 
 play^spell he fancied that the boys regarded 
 him with suspicious eyes, and cold glances : 
 and that the knot who had gathered in the 
 sunny angle of the building were whispering 
 about him. 
 
 All these sensations were new to Joe, for 
 until this time he had always carried an honest 
 heart under his ragged jacket. Come cold or 
 hunger or sneers, his heart had always been 
 light and free from the burden of wrong-doing, 
 and he had no one to fear. But now ! oh, 
 how his heart ached with the dreadful weight 
 which lay upon it ! He trembled at the sound 
 of a strange voice, he was fearful when his 
 comrades whispered, and he could not meet 
 his teacher's eyes. He suddenly found what 
 bitterness there was in a guilty conscience, 
 and learned how much harder the burden of
 
 A HEAVY HEART. 130 
 
 evil-doing was to carry, than the burden of 
 want and poverty. 
 
 Well, this wretched and miserable day wore 
 away very slowly. To Joe it seemed twice as 
 long as school-days generally were, and when 
 night came, he drew a great sigh of relief, and 
 was happy enough when the word was given 
 to pile the books away. He rushed out into 
 the fresh air, which fanned his hot forehead 
 gratefully, and walked silently with Harry 
 towards home. The merchant's son was un- 
 usually silent, too, and did not whistle a single 
 tune as they went down the street. Joe 
 fancied that his forehead was drawn up with a 
 wrinkle of trouble, but then, Joe's fancies 
 had not been at all reliable that day. 
 
 As they neared the stone cottage, Harry laid 
 his hand on his friend's shoulder, and said com- 
 passionately : 
 
 " I'm sorry for you, Joe ! " 
 
 Joe's chin quivered, and l~e turned away his
 
 140 MR. PENDLETOX'S CUP. 
 
 head. He was not at all able to bear pity just 
 then. 
 
 " You're as miserable as you can be, aren't 
 you ? " continued Harry ; " now what is the 
 matter ? " 
 
 " Matter ! " cried Joe, chokingly, " O, 
 everything! " 
 
 Harry's arm went around his friend. 
 
 " Don't be so blue ! " said he comfortingly ; 
 " wh} you never felt like this when you 
 thought you had got to leave school ! not 
 half so bad. And now why, Joe, I can't 
 understand it ! " 
 
 Joe said not a word, but his chin continued 
 to quiver. He could not control his tongue. 
 The two walked on in silence till they reached 
 the gate. 
 
 i4 Oh, dear," said Harry. " I can't bear to 
 have you go home feeling like this. I shall be 
 thinking how sad you looked all the evening. 
 Come, Joe, brighten up ! " he exclaimed, fain
 
 A HEAVY HEART. 141 
 
 to be very comforting ; " remember to-morrow 
 morning. Good-night," and they parted. 
 
 " Remember to-morrow morning ! " rang in 
 Joe's ears like bells. He walked down the 
 street very sadly and slowly, and not at all like 
 a boy who was to receive a large sum of 
 money on the morrow. Why, what could be 
 the reason ? He was punctual at the supper- 
 table that night, and succeeded in getting his 
 scanty allowance of food. Mr. and Mrs. 
 Jumper were^ quite amiable, and made no 
 objections to his sitting by the stove. But for 
 all that he went to bed very early, preferring 
 the cold and solitude of the garret to the dis- 
 tracting noise of the little Jumpers as they 
 rode to " Banbury Cross " on their father's 
 knees. 
 
 When he had finally succeeded in getting 
 warm under the old coverlet he chanced to 
 look up, and there was the countless, calm- 
 eyed stars looking in upon him ! Oh, how
 
 142 MR. PENDLETON'S CUP. 
 
 pure and holy they looked ! and peering 
 into his eyes they seemed to whisper 
 
 " Thief I thief I thief I " 
 
 " Oh, I can never look at them any more ! " 
 sobbed Joe, and made haste to hide his face 
 from those unwavering, accusing eyes. 
 
 But I suppose that this was only one of 
 Joe's " fancies " after all, and that the stars 
 looked upon him with no sterner glances than 
 they had ever done. 
 
 What could be the matter of him ?
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE TEMPTER IS VANQUISHED. 
 
 ^EANWHILE, Mr. Pendleton gave 
 up his cup as gone forever. In vain 
 his friend told him that as the re- 
 ward had only been out one day, it 
 was useless to look for the return of the treasure 
 so soon. The old gentleman shook his head, 
 and said "I've no faith! no faith! It's 
 gone, and we shall never see it any more. Oh, 
 how could I have been so careless ? " As this 
 was nearly the thousandth time which the old 
 man had asked this question, Mr. Harvey 
 thought it quite unnecessary to answer it. 
 " Why, sir," said he, " it will be nothing 
 143
 
 144 MR. PENDLETON'S CUP. 
 
 strange if the cup don't make its appearance 
 in a month. The news of the reward must be 
 circulated among all classes of people, and even 
 then it may be a long time before it reaches 
 the ears of the guilty one. Then he may take 
 time to consider the subject, whoever he is, and 
 deliberate whether he can make most by keep- 
 ing the cup, or by returning it, and claiming 
 the reward. Or, the offer may not be suffi- 
 ciently tempting, and we may have to offer a 
 
 larger. Why, sir, when all things are thought 
 
 of, I wonder at your being discouraged ! " 
 But the old gentleman shook his head in- 
 
 creduously. 
 
 " It's gone ! it's gone ! " said he, shaking his 
 
 finger solemnly, " and look as long as you like, 
 
 you'll never find it ! " 
 
 " Of course," said his friend, " we're not 
 
 certain of the fact, but I'm tolerably confident 
 
 that it will yet make its appearance from some 
 
 quarter. So cheer up ! "
 
 THE TEMPTER IS VANQUISHED. 145 
 
 But Mr. Pendleton refused to be comforted. 
 
 " Ah," said he, mournfully, " to think of the 
 time I've wasted ! Two whole days, and each 
 of them seem like weeks. Why, I should have 
 got my Tacigraphon read through by this time, 
 and the notes all written out if I'd staid at 
 home." 
 
 " Your what? " cried his friend. 
 
 " Why, my Tacigraphon, my last old 
 book ! It's just one hundred and twenty-seven 
 years and seven months old, the first day of 
 this very month. I should have had it finished 
 by this time, with notes ! " 
 
 " Never mind," said Mr. Harvey, consol- 
 ingly, " two days isn't much. We'll go down 
 to the Historical Cabinet to-night, and mayhap 
 you'll see something there which will pay you 
 for the trouble you've had. What do you say, 
 sir ? " 
 
 Mr. Pendleton agreed to this proposition, 
 and spent the evening in a tolerably comfortably
 
 146 MR. PESDLEION'S CUP. 
 
 manner at the Historical rooms. He met with 
 several ancient gentlemen of his own persua- 
 sion, who consoled with him upon the severe 
 misfortune which he had sustained, and prom- 
 ised to use all their time and influence for the 
 recovery of the precious cup whose loss, as 
 they said, would be such a heavy one to their 
 science. From this meeting he went home 
 somewhat encouraged, but no sooner had he 
 entered the house than he announced his in- 
 tention of going home on the morrow. 
 
 " What," said Mr. Harvey in surprise, "and 
 not wait for your cup ? " 
 
 The old gentleman shook his head. He was 
 getting both fatigued and home-sick. He 
 longed 'for the quiet of his dim and dusty 
 rooms. Old Kate could cook and bake better, 
 he thought, than all the city-cooks put to- 
 gether. When had Mr. Pendleton ?ared for 
 cooking before ? And, moreover, the bustle 
 and roar of the busy streets troubled him, and
 
 THE TEMPTER IS VANQUISHED. 147 
 
 he had heard so many strange voices and seen 
 so many new faces that his poor head waa 
 quite turned. Darnleigh was peaceful and 
 quiet, at least the street was where he lived, 
 and there had never been anything to disturb 
 him there, nor put his thoughts into such a 
 turmoil. 
 
 " Oh," said the old gentleman, in the child- 
 ish manner which sometimes came across him, 
 "I'm tired, and want to go home. It's still 
 there. And now I think of it, the doves will 
 miss me. They'll be hungry and Kate won't 
 think to feed them ! I forgot to tell her about 
 it. I want to go home, I must go home in 
 the morning." 
 
 " Poor man I " said Mr. Harvey to himself, 
 " I really believe he is a trifle crazed, or else 
 he's getting into second childhood. I never 
 saw him act so before, I'm sure." Then aloud 
 " Well, if you wish to go so bad you can 
 taKO the morning train. It will bring you t<?
 
 U8 MR. PEXDLETOX'S CUP. 
 
 Darnleigh in the afternoon. Cheer up, sir, 
 ind I'll attend to looking up the cup, there'll 
 be no trouble about that ; but I'm sorry you 
 can't content yourself a little longer, for there's 
 no knowing how soon the cup will make its 
 appearance. It may come to light directly 
 after you are gone." 
 
 But our antiquary was perfectly indifferent. 
 The only object which he had now in view 
 was to make his way home as speedily as pos- 
 sible. He would have left this disgusting 
 Waynethorpe that very night could he have 
 procured a conveyance. 
 
 Mr. Harvey saw his tired old friend to bed, 
 and promised to awake him in time to eat his 
 breakfast, and reach the early morning-train. 
 He secretly hoped that the old gentleman 
 would get rested by sleep, and awake refreshed 
 and stronger of mind. He hoped that he 
 could persuade him to remain a day longer. 
 But on going up to the old man's room in the
 
 THE TEMPTER IS VANQUISHED. 149 
 
 morning, he found him not only awake but 
 nearly dressed for the journey. He would not 
 listen to a word of persuasion, but hurriedly 
 finished his toilet, and could hardly be induced 
 to drink a cup of coffee and eat a mouthful of 
 toast, for fear that he should be too late for the 
 train. 
 
 After he had been coaxed to partake of a 
 few morsels, Mr. Harvey called a cab, and 
 they drove to the depot. They were not a 
 moment too early after all, and in a few min- 
 utes Mr. Pendleton black valise and all 
 rolled off toward Darnleigh. The old gentle- 
 man actually smiled as he bade his friend good- 
 by, he was so happy at the prospect of being 
 home in the course of the day. 
 
 Now in this same early morning-time 
 when the sun-light was just breaking upon the 
 city, and Mr. Pendleton was speeding home- 
 ward Joe Gray awoke to the consciousness 
 of his troubles. " Remember to-morrow
 
 150 MR. PENDLETQN'S CUP. 
 
 morning ! " was the first thought that flashed 
 into his mind as soon as he was conscious of 
 the dawn of day. " Oh, dear," said he dis- 
 mally, " I wish it wasn't morning yet. Oh 
 dear ! " A sound of hissing and sputtering 
 came up from Mrs. Jumper's frying-pan, and 
 told him that it would soon be breakfast-time. 
 " And Harry wanted me to come up bright 
 and early this morning," thought he, " to-to " 
 " Joe, get up ! " cried Mrs. Jumper shortly, 
 cutting off Joe's thoughts. He sprang out of 
 bed, dressed hurriedly, and then walked to the 
 little window. Somewhere behind the long 
 dark line of houses the sun was burning redly, 
 but belts of gray clouds hid the rosy flush in 
 the sky, save where here and there the 
 crimson broke through in little patches. The 
 smoke from thousands of chimnies hung in 
 sombre curtains in mid-air. Far away at the 
 farther edge of the city, he saw a long trail of 
 snow-white smoke, and heard the whistle of the
 
 THE TEMPTER IS VANQUISHED. 1<31 
 
 outward-bound train. Little thought he that 
 it carried one whose mercy was presently to 
 shield him from a dread punishment. And as 
 he stood here he heard the little Junipers race 
 out to breakfast, and made haste to obey the 
 lady's call to breakfast himself. 
 
 He was so abstracted and absentrminded at 
 this meal that Mrs. J. remarked sharply 
 
 " You needn't mope so 'cause you've got to 
 leave school, Joe Gray ! Why, a boy with the 
 learnin' you've got ought to be satisfied. Just 
 think ! my Jumper never went to school but 
 six months in his life. What ye think of that ? 
 and he's always got along well ^enough. Now 
 see't you don't forget to bring home your 
 books to-night, 'cause if you do Jumper '11 send 
 you right back after 'em. We don't believe in 
 forgettlrf sir." Mrs. J. spoke as if she thought 
 that Joe secretly intended to leave his books, 
 and so have a pretext for going back to school 
 on Monday morning. And as he was going out
 
 152 MR. PENDLETON'S CUP. 
 
 the door she cried after him " Remember ' 
 don't you go to forgettin\ sir ! " The hoy's 
 heart was quite as wretched this morning as it 
 had been the previous night. He certainly 
 made no haste to reach Harry's in good season, 
 but walked slowly and listlessly along. Per- 
 haps he wished to be so tardy as to prevent the 
 sale of the cup that morning. Whatever his 
 ntentions may have been, he was a long while 
 n traversing the streets, and when he at last 
 reached Harry's gate, he lingered a long time 
 there, dreading to enter. But though he 
 whistled and called, his friend did not appear, 
 and he was obliged to go up the walk and 
 around the house as he had done the previous 
 morning. Again Ellen answered his rap, but 
 this time her face was not so grim. 
 
 " Well, you're here again, are you ? " said 
 she ; " what did I tell you I'd do if you came 
 here again ? " Joe was too miserable to make 
 much of a reply. " You'-re the greatest bothei
 
 THE TEMPTER IS VANQUISHED. 153 
 
 in the morning ! when one is busiest," said 
 she, but let him in nevertheless. 
 
 Ellen had evidently had a word in Joe's 
 favor whispered in her ear. Through the 
 same rooms she led him as in the previous 
 morning, and left him at the foot of the stairs 
 with 
 
 " Get up with you, and stay as long as you 
 like ! " 
 
 Joe slowly mounted the stairs, feeling much 
 as a criminal does who is going to execution. 
 He pushed open the chamber-door without 
 waiting to rap, and found his friend up and 
 partly dressed. 
 
 " Ho ! I am glad to see you this time, Joe ! " 
 cried Harry, very cordially, with a side glance 
 at his friend's sad face ; " come here and sit 
 down in this big chair beside me." 
 
 Joe complied, and sat down opposite his 
 friend who was pulling on his boots and 
 stockings.
 
 154 MR. PEXDLETON'S CUP. 
 
 " I declare ! " thought Harry to himself, " I 
 never did SBC Joe look so miserable ! Why, 1 
 shouldn't think he had a friend in the world/' 
 
 Joe said not a word, not even u good- 
 morning." 
 
 " Well," said Harry, briskly, stamping on 
 the floor to settle his feet in his boots, " I sup- 
 pose you've come on business this time. You 
 are going to sell the cup this morning, aren't 
 you ? " 
 
 Joe's chin quivered, he looked appealingly 
 at his friend, and then suddenly burst into 
 tears. The falling drops did not merely over- 
 brim his eyes, but they came in a wild, sudden 
 gust which made him tremble from head to 
 foot as he sat in the arm-chair. All his pent- 
 up agony found vent now, and rushed forth 
 with a passion and vehemence which fairly 
 startled Harry, who looked at his friend in 
 amazement and distress. He was at a loss to 
 know what had produced this sudden burst of
 
 THE TEMPTER IS VANQUISHED. 1O^) 
 
 feeling. At length he ventured to say softly 
 "Joe!" But Joe did not heed but con- 
 tinued to weep most passionately. 
 
 *' Joe ! Joe ! " said he again, u what is the 
 matter?" 
 
 No answer. At this Harry sat down on the 
 arm of the chair and tried to pull his friend's 
 hands away from his face. 
 
 " See here ! " said he, earnestly, " what are 
 you crying about ? What ails you ? Come, 
 tell me, Joe," coaxingly ; " did I say some- 
 thing that troubled you, or what ? " 
 
 But not a syllable did he get from his friend 
 till the tears had ceased to fall. Then Joe 
 said faintly " Where's the cup ? " 
 
 " The cup ? Why, it's in my drawer to be 
 sure; where we left it yesterday morning. 
 Did you think it was lost ? My stars, Joe ! 1 
 can't make nothing out of you this morning I 
 Come, shall we go and sell it ? "
 
 156 MR. PENDLETOX'S CUP. 
 
 Joe looked up through his tears with such 
 an expression that Harry suddenly fell back. 
 
 u I shall never sell that cup, Harry," said he, 
 very slowly and very firmly. A dead silence, 
 in which both boys could hear their hearts beat. 
 Then 
 
 " Not sell the cup ? " fell from Harry's lips. 
 
 " No, never ; not if I starve to death, nor 
 never go to school another hour ! " 
 
 Deliverance ! the Tempter was van- 
 quished, and Joe free from his clutches. 
 Harry stared at his friend as if he thought he 
 had lost his wits. At last he said 
 
 " Well, if I ever was astonished, I am now. 
 Are you sure you know what you are talking 
 about, Joe ? " 
 
 " Yes ! " 
 
 " And you mean that you'll give up thr cup ? 
 Why, what changed your mind so suddenly ? " 
 
 Joe wiped his eyes and said
 
 THE TEMPTER IS VANQUISHED. 157 
 
 'If you had been as miserable as I havu the 
 vast two days you wouldn't wonder at all ! 
 The* greatest wonder is why I did not change 
 my mind before. < Oh, Harry, you can't think 
 how miserable I've been ! " 
 
 " You did look miserable," said Harry, 
 "that's a fact! and was it all about that 
 cup?" 
 
 " Yes, rsvery bit of it ! " cried Joe brightly ; 
 " oh, I wonder I didn't give it up before ! 
 Why, I wouldn't keep it now for anything." 
 
 But just here the Tempter came back in the 
 shape of his friend. It is a hard thing to be 
 tempted by the one nearest and dearest to us, 
 but Joe had it to endure. 
 
 Harry came back to the arm-chair and looked 
 straight in his friend's face. 
 
 " Joe," said he sadly, " you can't go to 
 school now." 
 
 " No," said Joe, bravely trying to keep up 
 good courage. " And," continued the tempter,
 
 158 MR. PEXDLETON'S CUP. 
 
 " you'll have to be ragged and cold and half- 
 starved ! " 
 
 " Oh, Harry," cried Joe pleedingly, " don't 
 talk like that ! You make me want to keep it." 
 
 " And, besides all that, Jumper will put you 
 to work, or send you out begging, and we can't 
 see each other at all ! Oh, Joe ! just think of 
 ,.it!" 
 
 Joe did think of it, and found it hardest of 
 all to bear. He moved about uneasily in his 
 chair, and could not endure the thought of 
 being separated from his friend. But suddenly 
 his courage came back, and he got up look- 
 ing very resolute indeed. 
 
 " No ! " said he slowly, " I'll never sell that 
 cup if I'm starved and have to beg ! It isn't 
 mine, and I should be a thief if I kept it ! I 
 knew what a wicked thing I was doing all the 
 time, but somehow I couldn't make up my 
 mind to do right about it. I wanted to go to 
 school so bad, and I was so hungry that night,
 
 THE TEEPTER IS VANQUISHED. 159 
 
 and Jumper and his wife grumbled so, that I 
 thought I could do most anything to get rid of 
 them. But I can't, for it would kill me to 
 keep that miserable cup. I don't want it and 
 I won't have it, and oh, you mustn't tempt me 
 BO, Harry ! " 
 
 At this appeal, Harry's heart always 
 warm was touched. 
 
 " You're right. Joe ! " said he frankly, 
 " though I never should have had the courage 
 to told you, I wanted you to go to school so 
 bad. O, Joe, I did tempt you, I've tempted 
 you all the time. Come, now forgive me old 
 fellow ! " 
 
 At which Joe put his arms around his friend's 
 neck, and said that there was nothing at all to 
 forgive, and that he was so glad he had given 
 up the cup, and that he was the happiest boy 
 in the world, even if he had got to give up the 
 school, and go ragged and cold. And with 
 that the Tempter fled, and Joe was troubled 
 by him no more.
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 JOE'S REWARD. 
 
 |ELL," said Harry, after this declara- 
 tion of Joe's, " what are you going 
 vjs) to do with the cup ? How will you 
 
 find the owner, I mean." 
 " I'm sure I don't know. It must be some 
 rich man's property. I should think he would 
 be trying to look it up." 
 
 " We shouldn't know it if he was," said 
 Harry. 
 
 " Oh, dear," sighed Joe, " I hope the owner 
 will come pretty soon ! I can't bear to keep 
 it a moment longer. But if he shouldn't 
 come " 
 160
 
 JOE'S REWARD. 161 
 
 Dion 'twould be yours till he did," said 
 his friend. 
 
 But this prospect of ownership did not 
 please Joe at all. He was anxious to get rid 
 of the dangerous treasure. There was no 
 knowing how badly he might bo tempted be- 
 fore all was over. Then a bright idea camo 
 into his head. 
 
 " Why, Harry," said he suddenly, " I can 
 tell you where we can find the owner ! Look 
 in the papers I in the advertisements ! " 
 
 " Sure enough," said Harry ; " why didn't 
 I think of it before ? I'll bet you're right ! 
 I'll run down and get papa's paper this in- 
 stant," and off he bounded. 
 
 Joe waited very impatiently for his return. 
 Pretty soon he heard him coming back 
 taking two stairs at a time. Almost breathless 
 xvith haste he rushed into the room, crying 
 
 " I've found it ! Here it is the very 
 first thing in big letters I "
 
 162 MR. PENDLETON'S CUP. 
 
 Hurriedly he spread the paper upon the 
 floor, and both boys got down upon their kneea 
 to read. And this is what they found : 
 
 "LOST! 
 
 1100 REWARD. Lost on the night of the 
 23rd inst., about half-past five, an antique 
 SILVER CUP. It is covered with a rich design 
 of leaves and stems, and has a Z upon the 
 bottom of it by which it may be identified. 
 The above reward will be paid to the finder 
 of said cup upon its return to Police Head- 
 quarters, No. 37, Thrace St.; or to JAMES 
 HARVEY, at his office, No. 270 West-High 
 Street." 
 
 The boys looked in each other's faces, and 
 were silent for a moment. Than Harry cried: 
 
 " Hurrah, Joe ! you're in luck ! One hun- 
 dred dollars reward. Just think of it ! " 
 
 Joe did not look very much pleased.
 
 JOE'S REWARD. 168 
 
 " I didn't notice any Z," vsaid he. 
 
 " Nor I," said Harry ; " but I'll get the cup 
 and look," and taking the key from his pocket 
 he went to the little stand in the corner, un- 
 locked the drawer, and brought forth the 
 treasure. 
 
 " Yes, here it is ! " he cried, joyfully, " cut 
 into the silver as plain as day," and laid it 
 down on the paper for Joe to look at. Yes, 
 there was the Z well cut into the smooth sur- 
 face of the bottom. There could be no doubt 
 but that it was the very cup, but Joe did not 
 look very well pleased. 
 
 " Why," said Harry, " it's almost as good 
 as though 'twas your own, and you could sell 
 it. A hundred dollars will buy you a good 
 many things, Joe." 
 
 " Yes, I suppose so," said Joe, indifferently. 
 
 " But aren't you glad ? " grieved Harry, im- 
 patiently.
 
 164 MR. PENDLETON'S CUP. 
 
 " Not very,'-' said Joe, looking steadfastly at 
 the deeply graven letter. 
 
 " Oh, dear, what a fellow ! Now I'm out of 
 all patience with you ! What do you mean ? 
 Isn't the reward large enough ? Do you want 
 more ? Why, I should think " 
 
 " Stop 1 " interrupted Joe, with some en- 
 ergy ; " the reward is large enough, and I don't 
 want any more, and well, I believe I don't 
 want any reward at all." 
 
 44 Wh-a-what? " stammered Harry, "not 
 want any reward ? " 
 
 " No, for you see, I don't think I deserve 
 any. I was going to steal the cup or what 
 was just the same and should have done it, 
 but for happening to get my courage back this 
 morning. I'm going to carry the cup down to 
 the Police Office, tell them all about it, and re- 
 fuse the reward. I don't deserve it, anyhow, 
 when I was going to keep it and rob the owner. "
 
 JOE'S REWARD. 165 
 
 " But," remonstrated Harry," just think of it 
 a moment. The reward is " 
 
 " No, no, no," said Joe, resolutely, " don't 
 ialk to me about it ! I don't want to hear. 
 I'm, going to carry the cup right to the Office, 
 and leave it, and take nothing." 
 
 " Well," said Harry in despair, " when 
 you've got you're mind made up there's no 
 changing you, Joe Gray ! But I do think 
 you're foolish ! " 
 
 " I guess I'd better go right off," said Joe, 
 without minding this remark, " for it'll be 
 school-time before long, and I don't want to be 
 tardy my last morning." * 
 
 " Yes," said Harry with emphasis, " your 
 last morning! when, if you'd take the re " 
 
 But Joe stopped his ears, and would not 
 listen. 
 
 " Come," said he presently, " please show 
 me the way down stairs, and let me go." 
 
 Harry led the way down in silence, and pi-
 
 166 MR. PENDLETON'S CUP. 
 
 loted him safely to the kitchen-door, and there 
 Joe stopped short, with tears in his eyes, to 
 say 
 
 " I wish you wouldn't be angry at me, 
 Harry. I really think I'd ought " 
 
 "Pshaw ! " interrupted Harry, petulantly, 
 " I'm not angry ! " and left his friend without 
 another word. 
 
 " He is vexed," thought poor Joe, as he hid 
 the cup under his jacket, " but I can't help it ! 
 I was going to steal this and keep it for my 
 own, when it belonged to another ; and oh, 
 how dreadful near I came to it ! And now I 
 don't 1&ink I deserve a hundred dollars, nor 
 even a penny." 
 
 With this thought uppermost in his mind, he 
 hurried down the walk into the street. The 
 sun had not fairly shown his face that morning, 
 there were so many thick gray clouds in the 
 East; and a cold wind had risen, which 
 chilled the bry to the very marrow.
 
 JOE'S REWARD. 167 
 
 " Ug-g-g-h," he chattered, " how cold 'tis ! " 
 but did not sigh at all when he thought of the 
 warm clothes he was to have had that very 
 day. Men in warm coats and cloaks were 
 hurrying to their business, and Joe presently 
 found himself in a crowd of people who were 
 all making their way down town. In this 
 justling current he was pushed about and trod 
 upon, and had to hold tight to keep the cup in 
 its hiding-place. " Rather of a cold morning, 
 for such a thin jacket," said a cheery old voice, 
 and instantly Joe felt something thrust into his 
 hand. It was a dime. Very likely he would 
 have refused to take it, but the crowd swallowed 
 up the old gentleman who gave it, and the boy 
 could not help himself. You will presently see 
 that he was afterward thankful enough for the 
 donation. 
 
 A little way farther, and he entered Thrace 
 street, where the crowd was quite as great. 
 Here, too, the current was dropping down-
 
 168 MR. PENDLETON'S CUP. 
 
 town, and Joe had nothing to do but be borne 
 along with the rest. He had passed the Police 
 Headquarters many a time, and so was not at 
 all at a loss to find the building. He pushed 
 through the crowd, and went up the steps in 
 some slight trepidation. The warm air of the 
 room which he entered was agreeable enough 
 to the boy's chilled limbs. Some sleepy po- 
 liceman were nodding around the coal-stove. 
 Passing them, he went directly up to the desk 
 where the Captain sat writing. It was some 
 minutes before that gentleman noticed his pres- 
 ence, but when he did, he looked up strok- 
 ing his whiskers and said " Well, I sup- 
 pose dad's been fighting mam, and mam sent 
 you up here to have dad carted off to the 
 lock-up, eh ? " 
 
 " No, sir," said Joe, with very red cheeks, 
 u I've come to bring back that that cup, 
 lir." 
 
 "What cup?" said the officer, staring;
 
 JOE'S REWARD. 169 
 
 " oh ! ah I remember I You mean Mr. 
 Pendleton's cup." 
 
 " I don't know who it belongs to,'' said Joe, 
 trembling in spite of himself under the keen 
 glance which the Captain suddenly bent upon 
 him, " but the advertisement says it was to be 
 left here." 
 
 " Yes, sir ! this is the place to leave it if 
 you've got it," said the Captain, sharply ; and 
 getting off his high chair he came around to 
 where Joe stood. 
 
 " Well," said he, ." where is it ? " and stood 
 stock-still, looking very grim and stern. 
 
 Joe unbuttoned his jacket, took out the 
 treasure, and handed it to the Captain. That 
 gentleman expressed his astonishment by a 
 long whistle. 
 
 " I declare ! " said he, u that is a beauty. 
 I don't wonder the old chap was anxious about 
 it. Nixby, come here and look at this."
 
 170 MR. PENDLETON'S CUP. 
 
 One of the sleepy policeman left his chair 
 by the stove, and came to where they stood. 
 
 " Did you ever see anything like that ? " 
 asked the Captain. 
 
 Nixby looked on rather apathetically, and 
 asked " Who's is it ?" 
 
 " Why, that queer old gent's that was in 
 here with Harvey the other night. He was in 
 a dreadful stew about it. Offered a hundred 
 for it two days ago, and here it is." 
 
 Nixby went back to his seat and fell to 
 nodding again, and when the Captain had 
 leisurely examined the wonderful piece of sil- 
 ver, he carefully placed it upon the top of his 
 desk. Then turning about to Joe he surveyed 
 him from head to foot, and said coldly 
 
 "Well, sir, how did you come by this? 
 Now remember I don't you tell me a lie, nor 
 try to pass any sham-stories off upon me, for 
 you see, it won't do at all. Just hold up your
 
 JOE'S REWARD. 171 
 
 head, stick out your toes, and answer like a 
 major." 
 
 Joe thought it the inost disagreeable voice 
 he had ever heard. He could not help quail- 
 ing, either, under those merciless eyes. 
 
 " Well," said the Captain, " in the first 
 place, where did you get this cup ? Now stick 
 to the truth, sir." 
 
 " I found it on the side-walk," answered Joe, 
 with very hot cheeks. 
 
 " On the side-walk, eh ? well how carii^ 
 you to find it?" 
 
 " I was going home from school, and in the 
 dark " 
 
 " Humph ! " said the Captain, " going home 
 from school in the dark, were you ? That 
 looks probable." 
 
 44 But I was, indeed," said poor Joe, " for I 
 stopped at Harry ThorpeV gate till it was 
 real dark."
 
 172 MR. PENDLETON'S CUP. 
 
 44 All right," said the Captain unbelievingly, 
 "go on ! " 
 
 " And just as I had got a little way from tho 
 gate, I stumbled over something on the walk, 
 and it was this. I thought it was only an old 
 tea-pot at first, and was going to throw it into 
 the street, but " 
 
 " There's a law against throwing rubbish 
 into the street/' said the Captain, " but go on." 
 
 " Then," continued Joe, " I saw it was this." 
 
 " Hold on just there, sir ! This story is 
 pretty well put together, considering that you're 
 a boy, but allow me to assure you that I don't 
 believe a word of it. If you're an honest boy 
 why didn't you bring the cup here at once ? " 
 
 " I never saw the reward till this morning," 
 said Joe faintly. 
 
 "You didn't, eh? Well, then I must beg 
 leave to differ from you, and even if that were 
 true, why didn't you let us know at once what
 
 JOE'S REWARD. 173 
 
 you had found ? Ah you see that if you 
 were quite honest you'd have told us at once 
 what a valuable thing you had found." 
 
 Joe's cheeks were flushed a bright crimson, 
 and the tears trembled in his eyes at being 
 talked to in this manner. 
 
 " Come," said the Captain in a softer tone, 
 " better make a clean breast of it, and we shall 
 let you off pretty easy this time, I guess." 
 
 " I wasn't honest, I know, said Joe, chok- 
 ingly ; " because when I first found it I wanted 
 it for my own, and meant to sell it to get 
 money to go to school with, and to buy books 
 with, and to get me some clothes." 
 
 " Exactly," said his listener coolly ; " now 
 you talk like it." 
 
 " But finally I changed my mind " 
 
 " About the time when you saw the reward," 
 interrupted the Captain. 
 
 " And I thought that 1 hadn't ought to keep 
 it "
 
 174 MK. PENDLETON'S CUP. 
 
 " Because you thought it would be a great 
 deal easier to take a hundred in clear cash than 
 to keep it and run the risk of being discovered. 
 Yes, I think I can understand your feelings." 
 
 Joe gave up trying to say anything to this 
 icy-toned and stony-hearted man, and two or 
 three bright tears rolled down his cheeks, and 
 fell upon the old jacket. Was this the reward 
 which he was to get for vanquishing the 
 Tempter ? 
 
 " Come," said the Captain, " weep not, my 
 boy. We're accustomed to tears, here. Now 
 tell me honestly what you came here for this 
 morning." 
 
 " To bring back the cup," said Joe. 
 
 " And to get a hundred dollars," added his 
 inquisitor. 
 
 " No, sir ! I didn't come for it. I wouldn't 
 touch it! " 
 
 " I dare say," said the Captain, ironically ; 
 " you've no need of the filthy lucre, I suppose
 
 JOE'S REWARD. 175 
 
 sonny," leaning forward and drawing 
 Joe toward him by the shoulder, " listen to 
 what I've got to say. I suppose you like to 
 hear stories, and I'm going to tell you one." 
 
 This was said in such an icy tone, and then 
 was such a disagreeable smile upon the speak- 
 er's face, that Joe was sure the story could be 
 nothing good. 
 
 " Well, once there was a queer old gentle- 
 man who looked as if he might, be Methu- 
 selah's great-grandfather, and one night 
 about sundown he was walking along in a 
 crowded street with a black valise in his hand. 
 Now the black valise was open, for the old 
 gent didn't make a point of having but one 
 idea in his head at a time, and as he walked 
 along, a little boy well, about your size, I 
 should say, saw something shining in the 
 bag ; well, this little chap now I think of it, 
 he looked something like you ran along bo- 
 side th/3 old gent, and when they were both in
 
 176 MR. PENDLETON'S CUP. 
 
 a nice crowd, what does the little chap do but 
 put his hand in the old gent's bag and pull out 
 the shiny thing, which turns out to be a silver 
 cup ! But the best of the joke is, that when 
 the little chap saw the big reward in the 
 paper, he takes the cup, posts off to the Cap'n 
 of Police, and makes believe that he picked 
 the cup up on Why, my stars ! " cried the 
 Captain, affecting great surprise, " I'll be 
 shot if you ain't that very same little chap ! " 
 
 Here a roar of laughter went up from the 
 policemen about the stove, at the display of 
 their chief's humor. 
 
 " Oh, sir ! " cried Joe, in sudden terror, 
 " do you mean to say that I stole it ? and 
 out of the gentleman's valise, too ? " 
 
 "Well," said the Captain, jocularly, "stole 
 is a pretty hard word. It means State Pri-on, 
 and lots of things, and on the whole I guess 
 it's a pretty big word for your shoulders ; so 
 we'll say that you abstracted it, though I be-
 
 JOE'S REWARD. 177 
 
 lieve that means pretty much the same thing 
 in the long run." 
 
 Joe's face slowly turned very white, not 
 with a sense of guilt, for you know he was not 
 guilty, but because he knew that the stern, 
 suspicious Captain would never credit his 
 story, nor even listen to it. 
 
 " Well," observed the grim officer at last, 
 "you needn't look so scared, especially if 
 you're such a nice, honest boy as you tell for. 
 Honest boys don't get locked up$ not that I've 
 heard of. Now I've got some writing to do, 
 and I'm going back to it, and I'm going to ask 
 you one more question. Did you steal that 
 cup, or did you find it?" 
 
 Joe looked up into the stern eyes that were 
 watching him, and said lirmly "I found it." 
 
 " O pshaw ! " cried the Captain, " I knew 
 you would say so. Nixby, keep your eyes on 
 the little chap ! " and with this injunction he 
 got up and went round the desk to his writing.
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 A PRISONER. 
 
 prisoner, not held by locks nor 
 bolts, but simply by Policeman Nix- 
 by's eyes. A prisoner not confined 
 in cell or dungeon, but seated in a 
 tolerably comfortable chair. He might easily 
 Lave darted out of the door, for his jailer 
 dropped asleep at least once in five minutes ; 
 but if he ran away they would certainly think 
 him a thief, he thought. So he sat in the 
 chair with a despairing heart, and listened to 
 the scratch, scratch, of the Captain's pen, to 
 the ticking of the clock, and the noise in the 
 street. By-and-by the clock struck nine. 
 178
 
 A PRISONER. 179 
 
 Time for school to commence, and his last 
 day, too ! 
 
 " Please can't I go ? " he cried out on the 
 impulse of the moment. 
 
 " No talking down there," said the Captain 
 gruffly, " you put me out. Nixby, wake 
 up! I've got a message here that I want 
 taken down to the office." 
 
 That sleepy policeman got up, stretched 
 himself and yawned, and walked up to his 
 chiefs desk. 
 
 " Here's a telegram for Darnleigh, to that 
 old gent," said the officer ; " Harvey stopped 
 in this morning and told me that he'd gone 
 home. Now see that it's sent through at 
 once." 
 
 Nixby promised to do so, and here followed 
 a whispered consultation of which Joe did not 
 hear a word, though he was pretty sure that it 
 concerned him. Then Nixby went to the Tel- 
 egraph office with his message, and the Cap-
 
 180 MR. PENDLETON'S CUP. 
 
 tain's pen began its scratching again. Oh, 
 how long were the minutes! how tiresome ! 
 how anxious to waiting Joe ! 
 
 He did not imagine that the Captain meant 
 to detain him any length of time, when he sat 
 down ; but the pointer went slowly around to 
 ten without permission to go, and he began to 
 be greatly troubled. What were they going 
 to do with him ? Were they going to prove 
 him guilty of stealing ? Oh, no ! he thought, 
 they can't do that ! they wouldn't try to do 
 such a ridiculous thing ! 
 
 But all his doubts were speedily solved, for 
 a little after ten the Captain laid down his pen 
 and came around to see how his prisoner was 
 getting on. 
 
 " Well," said he, " I suppose I've got to do 
 something with you, little chap. What shall it 
 be?" 
 
 " Let me go to school," said Joe pleadingly, 
 " for it's my last day."
 
 A PRISONER. 181 
 
 " Your last day is it ? Well, so much the 
 better for you, eh ? Boys like to havo- the last 
 
 day of school come, I believe. But that'.* 
 
 
 
 nothing to do with our business. We've got 
 to settle this cup business, first. Come, if you'll 
 confess how you got it I'll let you off pretty 
 easy, seeing that this is the first offence. 
 But you must be spry ! I can't waste time on 
 you." 
 
 " There's nothing to confess, sir, only that 
 I found it on the side-walk," said Joe. 
 
 " Pshaw, boy ! can't you see that I know 
 better ? Come, I'm disposed to be easy with 
 you, but if you're going to stick it out in this 
 manner, I'll put you through, and show no 
 mercy ! I suppose you know that I can have 
 you arrested and locked up for stealing that 
 cup, don't you ? " 
 
 No, Joe did not know it, and the intelligence 
 terrified him somewhat. " Oh, sir," said he, 
 u how can I confess when I didn't do it?"
 
 182 MR. PENDLETON'S CUP. 
 
 " Humph ! " said the Captain impatiently, 
 u you're one of the obstinate kind, I perceive. 
 There's no use in wasting words on you I I 
 never want to give a boy a bad character if I 
 can help it, but if you won't take good advice 
 it's none of my business. Tom ! " he called 
 out to one of the men at the stove, " take this 
 boy down to the lock-up till we " 
 
 But Joe interrupted with a shrill cry. 
 
 " O, Captain ! " he cried, clinging to that 
 gentleman, " don't have me locked up ! don't I 
 don't ! Send for Harry, he'll tell you I 
 found it, sir ! " 
 
 " Harry who ? " asked the Captain, coldly. 
 
 " Harry Thorpe ! he was with me he 
 knows that I picked it up, and he'll tell you 
 so." 
 
 u I dare say he would. I don't doubt but 
 what there are a dozen rag-muffins in the 
 street who would swear that they saw it drop
 
 A PRISONER. 183 
 
 from the moon, if you wanted 'em to ! But 
 we don't take boy's evidence, as it happens." 
 
 Joe was in despair. The Captain was like 
 an ice-berg, and there was no hope of melting 
 his heart. As a last resort, he cried 
 
 " Let me tell you where I found it, sir, and 
 what kind of an old gentleman it was who 
 passed us just before, sir ! " 
 
 " Aha ! so you do know about the old gen- 
 tleman, after all ? " said the Captain, sharply ; 
 " well, I thought you'd .cross your tracks be- 
 fore all was over! Tom, take him off, will 
 you ? JPm sick of this." 
 
 Policeman Tom took Joe by the shoulder, 
 and marched him towards the door. And as 
 they were going out, the Captain cried 
 
 " Try the lock-up a while, little chap, till 
 you get ready to tell a straight story. Then 
 I'd like to see you again!" and the door 
 slammed behind them. 
 
 Tears rolled down Joe's cheeks as he thought
 
 184 MR. PENDLETON'S ccrp. 
 
 "I shall be locked up, and Harry nor any 
 one won't know what's taken me ! " and grasp- 
 ing the policeman's arm, he cried entreat- 
 ing 1 / 
 
 " O, please let me go and tell some one 
 what's going to become of me ! Do ! or send 
 some one to tell Harry ! " 
 
 " Well, that would be jolly ! " observed Tom, 
 laughing good-naturedly ; " wouldn't you like 
 to have me go and do the errand, and leave 
 you here ? You'd be here when I got back, I 
 guess ! " 
 
 "Indeed I would ! " said Joe, earnestly, 
 " No, 'twon't do, my lad, come along ! " 
 But on the walk before them lay a fragment 
 of envelope which some one had thrown down, 
 in his pocket was a pencil, and on the curb- 
 stone was a ragged urchin. Quick as a light- 
 ning-flash the thought went through his mind : 
 " Send a note to Harry" 
 
 " O wait just one minute I " he pleaded,
 
 
 JOE WRITING A NOTE TO HARRY. Page 185.
 
 A PRISONER. 1#5 
 
 "tiii I can send a word to him. JusJ oiv 
 minute ! " 
 
 " Well, be spry then," said the policeman, 
 and looked over the boy's shoulder while he 
 wrote. Joe traced a few hurried words, then 
 went up to the ragged urchin and said 
 
 " Take this to the High school for me, will 
 you ? I'll give you a dime." 
 
 The boy nodded assent eager to do the 
 errand for that sum. 
 
 "Enquire for Harry Thorpe," said Joe, 
 " don't give it to any one else. Here's your 
 dime." 
 
 " Minute's up ! " said Tom, " come along, 
 little chap," and away they went. But in all 
 that long, wretched walk the boy found conso- 
 lation in thinking "Harry will know it! 
 he'll get the note, and he won't let me be 
 locked up long, for he'll tell them how 'twas." 
 
 He mentally blessed the old gentleman who 
 gave him the dime, again and again ; remem-
 
 186 MR. PENDLETON'S CUP. 
 
 Bering tnat but for that fortunate piece of 
 silver be would have been unable to communi- 
 cate his whereabouts to his friend. 
 
 " Oh," thought he gratefully, " there's some 
 good men in the world, though the Captain 
 isn't one ! " 
 
 Down Thrace street through the crowd 
 which poured in at the four entrances of the 
 square and then they entered a quieter 
 thoroughfare. Joe did not remember any of 
 the blocks or shops to look familiar. Presently 
 they stopped before a low, dingy building, 
 with dark and gloomy windows, at the sight 
 of which the boy trembled they looked so 
 prison-like. 
 
 " Come," said Policeman Tom, as they en- 
 tered, " you needn't be alarmed. This isn't a 
 bad place by any means. Why, here's a fire 
 and benches, and plenty of company." 
 
 The fire was good enough, to be sure, but 
 the company ! Vile-faced men lounged on the
 
 A. PRISONER. 187 
 
 benches, and looked up moodily as they c^me 
 in. There were half-dozen little boys huddled 
 around the stove ; some miserable creatures in 
 the corner were dozing away the effects of a 
 drunken carousal, and the air of the narrow 
 room was almost suffocating with its burden 
 of bad odors. Tom placed his charge on the 
 end of one of the benches, and just then a 
 squad of policeman arrived to convey the oc- 
 cupants of the lock-up to the police-court. 
 
 This was one comfort to poor Joe, for the 
 room was nearly emptied of its wretched occu- 
 pants, and he had some hope that they would 
 not be sent back again. Policeman Tom de- 
 parted with the rest, after good-naturedly 
 telling. his charge " not to fret nor get uneasy, 
 for likely enough he'd get let out in the course 
 of the day." 
 
 i do not think it very strange that when 
 left to himself in the silence and gloom of the 
 lock-up, Joe's heart began to grow despondent.
 
 183 MR. PEXDLETOx's CUP. 
 
 He suddenly felt very lonely and friendless, 
 and not at all sure that Harry would help 
 him. He remembered that his friend was 
 vexed when last he left him, " and now," 
 thought he, " he may say it's good enough for 
 me. And perhaps he wouldn't want to claim 
 acquaintance with a boy that's shut up for a 
 thief, he might be ashamed to I And be- 
 sides, he may never get the note ; the boy may 
 keep the dime, and throw the note away, and 
 I not be able to help myself! " Tortured by 
 these thoughts his heart grew heavier and 
 heavier, especially after noon, when Harry 
 failed to appear. 
 
 But Harry Thorpe was too true a friend to 
 desert Joe because he had fallen into trouble. 
 It was no fault of his that he did not go at once 
 to his friend's help, nor was it exactly the fault 
 of the errand-boy, who was more honest than 
 Joe had feared. When, at nine o'clock the 
 bell rang and school commenced, Harry was
 
 A PRISONER. 189 
 
 somewhat surprised to find that Joe \vais not 
 there ; but thinking that he had been delayed 
 at the Police Office, he went unconcernedly to 
 his studies, expecting to see him enter the 
 study-room at any moment. But to his aston- 
 ishment, no Joe came. The forenoon wore 
 away, intermission came, and he went home to 
 dinner by the way of Thrace Street, stopping 
 to look in at the Police Office. But there was 
 no one there save a solitary policeman. 
 Harry ran home, thinking that perhaps Joe 
 had given up attending school on his last day, 
 and thought to himself remorsefully " I was 
 cross to the poor fellow this morning. I didn't 
 treat him right, and now may-be he thinks I'm 
 angry at him, and don't want to spend his last 
 day with me." 
 
 He ate but little dinner, and hurried back to 
 school, hoping to find that bis friend had 
 arrived. But he was doomed to disappoint- 
 ment, for no Joe came all that long afternoon.
 
 190 MR. PENDLETON'S CUP. 
 
 " Oh, dear ! " thought he to himself, a I .n 
 afraid something has happened to him ! and I 
 don't even know where he lives ! " 
 
 But as school was dismissed that night, and 
 the boys were rushing out into the street, the 
 mystery was solved. Ned Talmon laid his 
 hand on Harry's shoulder, saying laughingly 
 "Look here, Harry, I've got something for 
 you ! What'll you give to see it ? " 
 
 " Nothing to-night, Ned," said Harry soberly, 
 " for I'm in a great hurry ! I've got to " 
 
 " Well, here it is ; and let me tell you how 
 I found it. You know I was late this morning 
 till half-past ten, almost and as I was 
 coming in, I met a ragged little chap, standing 
 in the hall. As soon as he saw me he said 
 Be you Harry Thorpe ? ' * Yes,' said I, just 
 for fun, you know, and what did he do but put 
 this bit of envelope into my hand, and ran off. 
 It was such a little affair that I forgot all about 
 it till this minute. Here 't is, and I hope it's
 
 A PRISONER. 191 
 
 interesting ! " and Ned laughingly hurried after 
 the boys. Harry unfolded the bit of yellow 
 paper in much astonishment, and you may 
 imagine his surprise when he found these 
 words : 
 
 u O, Harry ! I'm arrested for stealing that 
 cup, and they're taking me to the lock-up. 
 
 Help me. 
 
 JOE. 
 
 Arrested ! taken to the lock-up ! and for 
 stealing the cup ! Harry was so confused for 
 a minute that he leaned against a friendly wall 
 to collect his wits, Then he slowly reagl the 
 note again. It was all clear, now, why Joe 
 had not appeared at school. And almost a 
 whole day had elapsed since the note was 
 written ! no wonder that Joe would think him- 
 self deserted by his friend ! 
 
 He thrust the bit of paper into his pocket, 
 and rushed off for the Police Office, intent
 
 192 MR. PEXDLKTON'S CUP. 
 
 only on one object that of proving his friend's 
 innocence. The day had been chilly and 
 cloudy, and night was falling fast, and gas-light 
 began to flare out of the shop-windows across 
 his path as he ran. He was but a very few 
 minutes in reaching the Headquarters, and 
 burst in upon the officers there like a whirl- 
 wind. 
 
 " Whew ! " cried the Captain, looking up 
 from his papers, " what's coming? " 
 
 It was a well-dressed, good-looking boy, pr 
 that gentleman might have ordered him to be 
 shown out. But as it was, the Captain sat and 
 listened looking amused. 
 
 "Oh, sir," cried Harry, excitedly, "he's 
 just as innocent as he can be ! He didn't 
 steal it, sir, indeed he didn't ! I saw him pick 
 it up !"" and here was obliged to stop for want 
 of breath. 
 
 " You d i, eh ? " very coolly ; " well, before
 
 A PRISONER. 193 
 
 you go any further I should be happy to know 
 who you are talking about." 
 
 These frigid words cooled Harry's ardor 
 somewhat. 
 
 " I mean Joe Gray," said he, " whom you 
 have arrested for stealing a cup ; but he didn't 
 steal it! he picked it up on the sidewalk in 
 front of my house. I know he didn't, and oh, 
 won't you let him go, sir ? " 
 
 u Whose boy are you ? " queried the Cap- 
 tain. 
 
 "Mr. Thorpe's, 20, Heath Avenue," re- 
 plied Harry. 
 
 "You are, eh? Well, what has such a 
 smart boy as you to do with such a little rag- 
 muffin as this Joe ? " 
 
 " He isn't a rag-muffin ! " said Harry, indig- 
 nantly ; " he's a real good boy, and you've no 
 business to shut him up, because he didn't 
 steal the cup, he found it I "
 
 194 MK. PENDLETON'S CUP. 
 
 " Ha, ha, ha ! " was all the reply the Chief 
 of Police made. 
 
 " But it's true ! " said Harry, very indig- 
 nantly, " and you've no right to shut up 
 innocent people. He found the cup on the 
 sidewalk, only a little way from our gate. I 
 can show you the very spot, sir, and you've no 
 right to shut him up, anyhow ! " 
 
 The Captain admired this helligerent spirit, 
 and was not at all displeased. 
 
 " Well," said he still smiling, " suppose that 
 all you say is true, what are you going to 
 do about it ? " 
 
 Of course Harry could not tell, but he 
 looked as if he would like to put the Captain 
 in Joe's place. 
 
 "Please won't you let him go, sir?" he 
 pleaded, a few minutes after, going around the 
 desk into the grim Captain's very presence ; 
 " it will be dreadful to have him shut up in
 
 A PRISONER. 195 
 
 that horrid lock-up all night! Oh, if you will, 
 sir, I know papa will be responsible for him." 
 
 " Humph ! " said the Captain, " I've 
 heard enough. In the station-house master' 
 Joe will hav^ to stay to-night unless the 
 owner of the cup should happen to make his 
 appearance and let him go ; but that is impos- 
 sible, as the old gent happens to be about one 
 hundred miles off to-night. So you've sense 
 enough to see that I can't do it not even to 
 accommodate you, my fine fellow. Better 
 take it cool, and let him stay there ; 't won't 
 hurt him a particle, and about to-morrow after- 
 noon if I'm not mistaken the old gent 
 will fetch around after his cup, and then you 
 can have a chance at him. But remember, 
 if the old fellow should take a notion to 
 prosecute, master Joe has got to prove his 
 innocence."
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE PRISONER'S FRIENDS. 
 
 ARRY turned away from the Captain 
 with a very sober face, but was not 
 discouraged. 
 " I'll go home and see papa ! " he 
 said to himself ; " papa can make them do dif- 
 ferently, I know. If anything can be done, 
 he can do it," and with this thought he hur- 
 ried toward the door. 
 
 " Call again ! " cried the Captain, good- 
 naturedly, "we shall be happy to see you 
 any time." 
 
 But Harry did not wait to reply, and ran 
 out into the chilly street. Gas-lights now 
 were flaring everywhere. He met crowds of 
 196
 
 THE PRISONER'S FRIENDS. 197 
 
 people hurrying homeward from their labor or 
 pleasure, and then chanced to remember that 
 his father might yet be at his office, as it was 
 rather too early for supper. He stopped short 
 and turned about. " I'll go down to the office 
 first, and see," he said to himself, " and then I 
 shan't have my walk home for nothing ! " 
 
 Running and walking by turns, he was not 
 long in leaving Thrace street behind, and his 
 father's place of business was just round the 
 corner, fronting the square. Up the stone 
 steps he ran into the great salesroom where 
 the gas was just being lit. 
 
 " O, Weston," said he anxiously, to a spruce 
 clerk, who. was looking over a great pile of 
 goods which lay upon tho counter, " has 
 papa gone home ? " 
 
 " Ah, you, is it, Master Harry ! " said Wes- 
 ton, with a very polite bow, " well, I guess 
 you'll find him in the counting-room yet. I 
 haven't seen him go."
 
 198 MR. PEXDLETON'S CUP. 
 
 Whereat Harry ran joyfully to the office- 
 door and pushed it open. Good fortune ! 
 there was no one there but his father, and he 
 was putting on his rubbers preparatory to going 
 home. The first inkling which Mr. Thorpe 
 had of his son's presence was at finding two 
 arms about his neck and at hearing a voice 
 say 
 
 " O papa ! I'm so glad you're here." 
 
 11 Why, Harry, my son," said Mr. Thorpe ; 
 " what brought you here ? Why, I was ju>t 
 thinking of you at this moment as comfortable 
 at home eating supper with mamma and 
 Sophy, while poor I had got to walk all the 
 long way in the cold wind ! " 
 
 " Oh, but you see, papa, I'm in trouble ! I 
 didn't know what to do, so I came to you ! 
 Will you help me ? " 
 
 " Certainly, Harry : but I must know what 
 it is first." 
 
 " Yes, papa ; you see there's a poor boy at
 
 THE PRISONER'S FRIENDS. 199 
 
 school a friend of mine and he found a 
 cup the other night in front of our house, 
 a splendid silver " 
 
 " What, the one that is advertised ? " inter- 
 rupted his father. 
 
 " Yes, sir ; and when he saw the reward 
 And found where it belonged that was this 
 morning he carried it straight to the Police 
 Office, and oh, they've arrested him for steal- 
 ing it and locked him up in the station-house I 
 But he's innocent, papa! he's innocent I 
 and I want you to get him out." 
 
 " But are you quite sure ? " 
 
 "Of what, papa?" 
 
 " That he's innocent, that he didn't steal 
 the cup.'' 
 
 " O yes ! yes I know when he found it ! 
 I know where he found it. I can show you 
 the very spot, papa, and Joe wouldn't steal to 
 save his life ! "
 
 200 MR. PENDLETON'S CUP. 
 
 "But why didn't he carry the cup in 
 before ? " 
 
 " He never saw the reward till this morning, 
 papa, and and " 
 
 " What. Harry ? " 
 
 " He is so poor and wants to go to school so 
 badly that -* that at first he wanted to keep 
 this cup and sell it to get the money. He's 
 dreadful poor, papa ! " 
 
 " I dare say. But he had some thoughts of 
 being dishonest, it seems." 
 
 " Yes, he wanted to learn so bad ! and 
 and I tempted him, papa," said Harry, with 
 downcast eyes. 
 
 " You, my son?" said Mr. Thorpe, survey- 
 ing his boy sternly. 
 
 " Yes -papa " chokingly, " I loved him, 
 and I wanted him to go to school and my 
 spendingrinoney was all gone, and and I 
 tried to have him sell the cup, he was such a
 
 THE PRISONER'S FRIENDS. 201 
 
 dear friend ; but he was better than I papa, for 
 he wouldn't sell it, and when he saw the re- 
 ward he carried it right to the office, not to 
 get the money, though, for he wouldn't touch 
 a bit of it because he had been thinking of 
 doing wrong." 
 
 A deep silence followed, in which the little 
 French clock on the wall ticked noisily. 
 Then 
 
 " You did very wrong, Harry ! '' came from 
 Mr. Thorpe's lips. The boy's chin quivered. 
 
 44 1 should never have thought you capable 
 of tempting a poor boy like that ; a poor boy 
 who had everything to drive him to the sin 
 without your influence. He must have had a 
 hard fight with temptation, with his friend 
 leading him on." 
 
 " Oh papa ! " and Harry burst into tears. 
 His father made no attempt to soothe him till 
 his sobs grew less. Then he drew him upon 
 his knee, saying
 
 202 MR. PENDLETON'S CUP. 
 
 " There, you've cried enough, Harry. I'm 
 not angry with you, by any means. I'm only 
 sorry that you did such a wicked thing as to 
 tempt your friend to keep what was not his 
 own. I'm afraid that of the two, yours was the 
 greater sin in God's sight." 
 
 " Yes, papa, though I didn't think what I 
 was doing then." 
 
 " Now what do you want me to do, Harry ?" 
 said the father, stroking his son's hair affec- 
 tionally, and feeling very happy to find that his 
 boy had such a warm heart. 
 
 " To get Joe out of that dreadful lock-up, 
 papa. He'll be so lonesome and deserted there. 
 And I know that that cross Captain thinks him 
 guilty!" 
 
 " Have you been there ? " asked Mr. Thorpe, 
 getting up and locking drawers and safe. 
 
 " Yes, and 'he is such a disagreeable man ! 
 He said that Joe couldn't be let out till till 
 the old gentleman came back who owned the 
 cup."
 
 THE PRISONER'S FRIENDS. 203 
 
 " Well, Harry, we'll go and see about it," 
 said the father, putting on his overcoat; 
 ' mamma and Sophy will wonder what has 
 token us, I supppse, but we'll try to spend a 
 few minutes with the Captain. Come," and 
 they left the counting-room. Weston saw 
 father and son pass out, and thought to himself 
 " Master Harry carries out a shorter face 
 than -he carried in. He's been getting the 
 right side of the old gentleman." 
 
 Through the wind they went straight to 
 Headquarters. The Captain very suave and 
 polite to the rich merchant informed them 
 that Joe was strongly suspected of stealing the 
 cup from the old gentleman's valise ; that the 
 charge was quite a serious one, and must ba 
 investigated ; that he should be most happy to 
 accommodate, but really, under the circum- 
 stances, he couldn't think of letting the boy go. 
 He must stay till the owner of the cup arrived, 
 and if he chose to let him go, why, all well and
 
 204 MR. PENDLETON'S CUP. 
 
 good ; but till that time he must remain a 
 prisoner. 
 
 "You hear what he says, Harry?" said 
 Mr. Thorpe. Yes, Harry heard, and was 
 despondent. 
 
 " But, papa," said he, an instant after, 
 " why can't he be shut up here, instead of in 
 that dreadful lock-up ? " 
 
 "Yes," said Mr. Thorpe, "can't you confine 
 him in a better place than that, Captain ? " 
 
 That worthy meditated a few moments, then 
 said 
 
 " Well, as a particular favor to you, Mr. 
 Thorpe, I'll send down and have the boy 
 brought up here. He can lodge tolerably 
 comfortable a night or two I should imagine." 
 
 '' O good ! " cried Harry, " and send for 
 him now, won't you, Captain ? " 
 
 " Yes," said the officer, good-humoredly, 
 " I'll send for him now. Tom, you sleepy 
 head, go down to the lock-up and fetch up that
 
 THE PRISONER'S FRIENDS. Z'Jo 
 
 litde chap you took down this morning. Stir 
 yourself!" 
 
 " Now Harry," said Mr. Thorpe, " we'll go 
 home to supper. Mamma and " 
 
 " O papa," interrupted the son, " mayn't I 
 stay till till Joe comes ? You can go home 
 to tea and leave me here, and after I've seen 
 him I'll come just as fast as I can run." 
 
 " And eat your supper all alone, boy ? " 
 said the father, smiling. 
 
 "Yes, papa ; or go without it if you'll let 
 me stay." 
 
 " Stay then, Harry," said Mr. Thorpe, and 
 thanking the Captain for his kindness, went 
 out. 
 
 Now this Captain of Police had taken a 
 fancy to the merchant's son. He liked him 
 for his perseverance, and for what in the 
 Captain's vocabulary was termed "spunk." 
 And not being very busy, he left the desk and 
 came out to the chair in which Harry sat.
 
 206 MR. PE^DLETON'S CUP. 
 
 " Had your own way in spite of me, didn't 
 you?" said he, laughing; "well, I like to see 
 a boy stick to a thing, even if I do come out 
 second-best. Now I really wish, for your 
 sake, that this little chap was innocent." 
 
 " He is innocent," said Harry ; " do you 
 think I'd lie about it ? " 
 
 "Why no but you might be deceived 
 yourself, you see," said the Captain. 
 
 " How can I ? " said Harry ; " I saw him 
 two minutes after he picked it up. I know 
 the very spot in the walk where it was found, 
 right by a little step where an old gentle- 
 man who was coming up the street stumbled. 
 I think he lost it out of his valise." 
 
 " How could that be ? " asked the Captain, 
 feigning ignorance of all the particulars. 
 
 " Why, sir," said Harry, " the bag was 
 open ! and the old man acted as if he were 
 crazy." 
 
 " Wei], he's right there," thought the Cap-
 
 THE PRISONER'S FRIENDS. 207 
 
 tain ; then aloud " What kind of an old 
 gentleman was it ? " 
 
 " Oh, sir, a queer one ! he had oil the 
 drollest old cloak and hat you ever saw, and 
 carried a white-headed cane." 
 
 " That's the very man, sure enough ! " 
 thought the Captain in surprise ; then again : 
 "You say he stumbled. What did he stumble 
 over ? and give me all the particulars, if you 
 please. Your story sounds plausible." 
 
 Harry took heart, and related all the circum- 
 stances, how Joe and he were standing at 
 the gate in the ^prilight ; how the old gentle- 
 man who was coming up the walk failed to 
 perceive the little step and consequently 
 stumbled and fell, and all those particulars 
 with which we are already familiar. 
 
 " Well," said the Captain cautiously, " that's 
 a pretty smooth story, and I'll think about it. 
 One can't " 
 
 The opening door cut short the last remark
 
 208 MR. PEXDLETON'S CUP. 
 
 which that gentleman was about to make, 
 Policeman Tom entered, and Joe was with him. 
 The Captain missed the boy at his side, looked 
 about, and saw two lads standing by the door, 
 both of them very silent. 
 
 " Oh, ho! " said he, "you've got back little 
 chap, have you? Come up here and warmi 
 you, sir." 
 
 "Yes, Joe, come and warm you," said 
 Harry, tenderly, " you're 'most froze in this 
 wind.' And with this he led his friend up to 
 the gloomy stove, gave him the chair in which 
 he had been sitting, and hovered about him 
 acting the part of Good Samaritan generally. 
 " O, Joe ! " said he in a whisper, leaning on 
 the arm-chair, " I didn't desert you, indeed I 
 didn't! I only got your note to-night 
 almost dark. But the Captain has promised 
 though he can't let you out, that you shall 
 stay in this nice warm room all night, and 
 to morrow the old gentleman is coming, and
 
 THE PRISONER'S FRIENDS. 209 
 
 then we'll have everything all right. Papa 
 will help, Joe ! he can do it.'* 
 
 Long he lingered about his friend, offering 
 such consolation and encouragement as was 
 most grateful to Joe's troubled heart. The 
 Captain looked on amused and smiling. 
 
 " Well, little chap," said he at last, address- 
 ing Joe, " what' 11 you take for that friend of 
 yours ? I'd like such a one to help me, when 
 I get into trouble. Come, I'll pay high for 
 him." 
 
 But Joe was deaf to this bit of pleasantry, 
 having ears only for Harry's words. At last, 
 Harry remembered that he must not stay late, 
 and bidding his friend good-night, and promis- 
 ing to come again early in the morning, he ran 
 home very buoyant-hearted. 
 
 The telegram which the Captain sent flash- 
 ing over the rivers reached Darnleigh, of 
 course, long before Mr. Pendleton. Imagine
 
 210 MR. PENDLETON'S CUP. 
 
 then, the old gentleman's astonishment, when> 
 on reaching home, he found this bit of news 
 waiting for him : 
 
 " WAYNETHORPE, FRIDAY MORN. 
 Jno. Pendleton Sir Cup all right. Come 
 on and prove property. 
 
 CAPT. POLICE. 
 
 At first he could not believe his eyes. 
 Why, he had left Waynethorpe that very 
 morning, and here was a telegram which had 
 been waiting six hours, so old Kate informed 
 him. 
 
 " Ah, my good Kate," said he, thrusting the 
 despatch into his waistcoat pocket, " I care not 
 for this cup. Give me my supper directly, for 
 I am nearly famished. Thou knowest not 
 what I have endured these three days." 
 
 Doubtless the old gentleman thought he 
 knew his own heart, but you will presently 
 Bee that he did not. Old Kate made all haste,
 
 THE PRISONER'S FRIENDS. 211 
 
 and soon supper was spread upon a little table 
 in the cabinet. Mr. Pendleton sniffed the 
 odorous steam of the tea, and rubbed his hands 
 contentedly together, and looked around him 
 upon the familiar walls with an air of the 
 keenest enjoyment, and straightway fell into 
 such a delicious reverie as he had not enjoyed 
 before in three days at least, the whole sum 
 and substance of which was that " There's no 
 place like Home." 
 
 In this happy frame of mind he took his 
 seat at the little table, and between alternate 
 sips of tea, mouthfuls of bread-and-butter, and 
 snatches at the Tacigraphon which he held 
 in his lap came at last to be in a very com- 
 fortable state of both mind and body. And 
 when tea was carried away, and he was seated 
 in the dear easy-chair once more, with the 
 great volume open before him, you will not be 
 surprised to find that his antiquarian spirit 
 came slowly back to him. He began 1,o lose
 
 212 MR. PENDLETON'S CLP. 
 
 sight of past discomforts in his present happi- 
 ness, and to think between the paragraphs 
 of the Tacigraphon that the silver cup was 
 a little too good to be lost after all. 
 
 " I will not be so hasty," said he to himself, 
 after the quarter part of the evening had 
 flown ; " I will think over the matter a little, 
 and see what is best. To have to make 
 another journey will be bad, but I need stay 
 but one night and the time will pass speedily. 
 I will think of it ! " (You see the old gentle- 
 man had forgotten the day of the week, and 
 was entirely unconscious that he should have 
 to stay over the Sabbath if he went. But this 
 absence of mind was most fortunate for poor 
 Joe Gray, for had the old gentleman had his 
 wits about him he would never have under- 
 taken the journey with the prospect of having 
 to make such a long stay.) 
 
 The result of his deliberations you may well 
 guess. He went. And the train reached
 
 THE PRISONER'S FRIENDS. 213 
 
 Waynethorpe in safety, and the old gentleman 
 got out at the bustling station in the pleasant 
 afternoon sunshine, to find Mr. Harvey wait- 
 ing for him. That gentleman could not refrain 
 from smiling at seeing his old friend back so 
 soon. 
 
 " Why," said he, " I thought you were dis- 
 gusted with Waynethorpe entirely ! I doubt- 
 ed whether you would really answer the sum- 
 mons." 
 
 At which, a little smile actually tugged at 
 the down-curved wrinkles of the old man's 
 face, and he said 
 
 " Thou knowest I am but a foolish old man, 
 friend Harvey." 
 
 Then a cab was called, and they trundled 
 off toward the Police Headquarters, the old 
 gentleman quite in ecstacies at the prospect 
 of speedily beholding his treasure again.
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 NEW POSSESSIONS. 
 
 T the Headquarters that afternoon, 
 when the cab rolled up to the door, 
 there were the Captain, the usual 
 amount of policemen around the stove, 
 and Joe and Harry. Harry's father had given 
 him permission to spend the afternoon with his 
 friend, and the two boys had long been anxious- 
 ly waiting the old gentleman's arrival. 
 
 An anxious waiting it could not but be, for 
 the two friends had reason to fear that Mr. 
 Pendleton would insist on having Joe tried for 
 theft. And now, when the sound of the cab- 
 driver's " whoa ! " was heard without, Harry 
 whispered " Keep up good courage, Joe, and 
 214
 
 NEW POSSESSIONS. 215 
 
 it'll all be right. We shall know it all in a few 
 minutes," 
 
 The door opened, and in walked Mr. Harvey, 
 followed by the old gentleman in the ancient 
 cloak and queer hat, the identical garments 
 in which the boys had seen him dressed. 
 
 "Yes! that's he! that's the very one!" 
 cried Harry in a whisper to the Captain ; "I 
 should know him anywhere. And there's the 
 black valise and white-headed cane." 
 
 "Good afternoon Mr. Pendleton," said the 
 Captain, bowing blandly ; " happy to see you, 
 sir! very happy indeed. Hope you had a 
 comfortable journey." 
 
 " Quite tolerable," replied the old gentleman, 
 somewhat impatiently ; his eyes rambling 
 searchingly around the room. But the Cap- 
 tain was in no hurry to gratify his curiosity. 
 
 " You've had to travel about considerably of 
 late," he continued ; u hope so much jolting 
 and jarring won't hurt you ! "
 
 216 MR. PENDLETON'S CUP. 
 
 44 No ! no ! " cried the old man, hurriedly, 
 " I'm quite well. I want to see the cup, my 
 cup, sir ! " 
 
 Just then the door opened and Mr. Thorpe 
 came in. Harry went and stood by his side, 
 to get a renewal of the premise of aid in case it 
 was needed ; and at this moment the Captain 
 brought forward the treasure from some hidden 
 corner of his desk, and placed it upon the ledge 
 of one of the broad windows. 
 
 Down went the antiquary's cane and valise 
 with a clatter, and the quaint cloak swung off 
 to one side, and rushing forward the old' gen- 
 tleman grasped his cup with an exclamation of 
 pleasure. Fondly he gazed upon its glittering 
 work his eyes twinkling with delight 
 peered into its burnished hollow, and rubbed 
 the ancient Z with his fingers. Then he put it; 
 down, took two or three little steps backward, 
 viewed it a moment from this new point of 
 view, rushed to the window again to fondle it
 
 NEW POSSESSIONS. 217 
 
 and breathe upon it, and behave in a manner 
 that was altogether very ludicrous. The Cap- 
 tain laughed aloud, and every one smiled but 
 Joe. 
 
 " O, you beauty ! " eried the old gentleman, 
 admiringly ; " saw you ever such silver-work, 
 gentlemen ? such pitted stems ! such veined 
 leaves ! such massy knots of fruit ! and this 
 frost-work was done by no other than a cunning 
 workman. Alas ! it was an evil day when I 
 lost it." 
 
 " Evil for more than one," thought poor Joe 
 to himself, as he watched the speaker's per- 
 formances. And while Mr. Pendleton was 
 making such show of ecstasy, Harry stole 
 across the room to whisper in Joe's ear 
 
 " Keep up good courage ! he don't look like 
 a cross man at all, come to get him where it's 
 
 light." 
 
 Mr. Pendleton was certainly far from being 
 cross at that moment. Very likely had it
 
 218 MR. PEXDLETON'S CUP. 
 
 been possible his face would have shown 
 with smiles and good-natured dimples, and as 
 it was he looked quite mild and benevolent. 
 
 " Well," said the Captain, shortly, " havn't 
 we been expeditious ? The reward was of- 
 fered only day before yesterday, and now 
 here's your cup safe and sound." 
 
 The old gentleman nodded assent, and pres- 
 ently asked " Who got the reward ? " 
 
 " Well," said the Captain, " there's no one 
 got it yet. You see, sir, we've had a little 
 difficulty in the matter. The cup was brought 
 in yesterday morning by that little chap sitting 
 by the stove, and we couldn't quite clear 
 matters up till you came." 
 
 Mr. Pendleton gave Joe an indifferent 
 glance from under his shaggy eye-brows, and 
 then turned fondly to his cup again. It was 
 very clear that he wanted to talk upon no 
 other subject. But the Captain of Police was 
 intent upon settling up matters at once.
 
 NEW POSSESSIONS. 219 
 
 " And, sir," continued he politely, " if you 
 and these gentleman present will be so good as 
 to be seated, we'll try to smooth things out a 
 little. What do you say, gentleman ? " 
 
 Mr. Thorpe and Mr. Harvey signified their 
 assent by taking seats, and the old gentleman 
 could do no less. He dropped into a seat by 
 Harry and his father. And being all seated, 
 the Captain, eager for business, said 
 
 " Now, gentlemen, we'll go ahead. Come, 
 master Joe, now for your story. Stand up, 
 and give us all the particulars, and don't be 
 afraid of anybody. All the particulars, re- 
 member. Mr. Pendleton, please notice wheth- 
 er his statement agrees with what you remem- 
 ber of the affair. Go ahead, Joe ! " 
 
 Joe stood up by his chair, and commenced 
 his story. His voice trembled somewhat at 
 first, but getting used to the unwonted silence, 
 and receiving many encouraging glances from 
 Harry, he was at last enabled to recite the
 
 220 MR. PENDLETON'S CUP. 
 
 circumstances clearly and plainly. And the 
 Captain interrupted not once. When Joe sat 
 down, he said 
 
 "Now master Harry, let's hear your ac- 
 count. Give us all the particulars ! " 
 
 Harry stood up by his father's side, and 
 commenced his account of the affair, and you 
 may be sure the Captain kept both ears open 
 to find some discrepancy in their statements. 
 In the midst of the narrative he interrupted 
 with 
 
 " Goodness ! look at the old gentleman, will 
 you? I'll be shot if he isn't . sound asleep! 
 and all these things being told for his 
 benefit! " 
 
 Yes, the combined influence of fatigue, and 
 the warm fire before which he sat, had made 
 the old gentleman's head droop on his breast, 
 and there he sat entirely unconscious of what 
 was being done. The Captain looked half- 
 tuagry, half-amused.
 
 NEW POSSESSIONS. 221 
 
 " I declare I " said he, biting his lip, " I've a 
 good mind to throw up the whole business, and 
 let the old gent guess whether his cup was lost 
 or stolen ! " 
 
 But Mr. Thorpe interposed, with 
 
 " No ! go on. This boy's character must be 
 cleared now. If Mr. Pendleton doesn't care, I 
 do. I insist that the investigation go on I " 
 
 Harry pressed his father's hand gratefully 
 for these words, and continued his narrative 
 after Mr. Harvey had waked his sleepy friend. 
 When Harry had done, and it was found that 
 the boys' stories agreed perfectly, the Captain 
 said, 
 
 " So far, it's all clear, I think. Now, Mr. 
 Pendleton, let us hear your account of the 
 matter. Give us all the particulars." 
 
 But before he had time to speak, the door 
 opened, and there entered Jumper ! Not 
 Jumper the good-natured, easy carpenter, but
 
 222 MR. PENDLETON'S CUP. 
 
 Jumper red-faced and cross, and much the 
 worse for liquor. 
 
 " Oh, you little villian ! " said he, angrily, 
 marching straight up to Joe, " this is what it's 
 come to, is it ? This is the pay for taking a 
 good-fur-nothin' scamp out o' the street and 
 bringin' him up in an honest family, eh ? 
 Yes, in the bosom of an honest family ! with 
 plenty to eat and drink even tho* it took 
 victuals out of the mouths of our own young 
 uns ? This is the pay is it ? " trying to get 
 Joe by the collar. 
 
 But the Captain got up and thrust Jumper 
 into a chair, saying 
 
 "Who be you, sir?" 
 
 " Who be I ? " said Jumper, somewhat 
 startled, " why, I'm Thomas Jumper, and 
 that little villian there in that chair has been 
 nourished in my family viper ! and now he's 
 been stealing, they tell me, and bringin' a bad 
 name onto a poor man like I be, and I "
 
 NEW POSSESSIONS. 223 
 
 " No more ! " said the Captain, in his most 
 frigid tones ; " do you sit here till I give you 
 leave to get up, and if you make a breath of 
 noise I'll " The threat was left unfinished, 
 but enough was implied by the tone to keep 
 Jumper silent. Then the Captain went back 
 to business, saying " Now we'll hear you, 
 Mr. Pendleton." 
 
 Jumper's sudden appearance had wrought 
 one good, at any rate, for it had thoroughly 
 aroused the old gentleman from his drowsiness. 
 
 He looked at Joe, then at the listeners ranged 
 
 
 around, and enquired 
 
 " Is that boy charged with stealing the 
 cup ? " pointing to Joe. 
 
 The Captain looked disgusted. 
 
 " Of course he is ! " he answered tartly ; 
 " are you on earth, or where, sir ? Excuse 
 me, gentlemen, but really I never saw such an 
 absent-minded person ! This boy, Mr. Pen* 
 dleton, was hold for stealing your cup, and fa:
 
 224 MR. PEKDLETON'S CUP. 
 
 the last three-quarters of an hour we've been 
 trying to find out something about it. I've 
 about made up my mind that he isn't guilty, 
 after all, and " 
 
 " Humph ! " said the old gentleman, " I 
 know he isn't ! Does he say that he found 
 it?" 
 
 " Yes," answered the Captain. 
 
 " Then of course he did," said Mr. Pendle- 
 ton, " and I suppose you've paid him the re- 
 ward. He looks as if he needed it, poor 
 little boy." 
 
 The Captain looked from one to the other of 
 the gentlemen in despair. 
 
 " I really believe the old chap's crazy ! " said 
 he, aside to Mr. Harvey ; " at any rate I can't 
 do anything with him. I give it up ! " 
 
 " Well." said Mr. Thorpe, " are you satisfied 
 of Joe's innocence ? " 
 
 "Well yes," said the Captain. "I'm 
 quite certain that he found it, and I congrat-
 
 NEW POSSESSIONS. 225 
 
 ulate the old gentleman, here, that it fell into 
 so honest a pair of hands. Look here, little 
 chap," turning to Joe, " didn't I tell you that 
 innocent folks didn't get shut up, and hasn't it 
 come true ? " 
 
 Just here, Jumper, who had been edging un- 
 seen towards the stove, came out again upon 
 Joe. 
 
 " Needn't think ye can come back to our 
 house again, for ye can't. We're honest folks, 
 and don't have no thieves around us. Don't 
 ye come there, for we won.'t let ye in. Mrs. 
 Jumper said, says she ' He can't have 
 another mouthful nor another lodgin' under 
 this roof! ' and I say so too. We cast you off! 
 won't have you ! don't you come with us ! " 
 
 You may imagine how Joe felt to be thus 
 disowned by one who had befriended him so 
 Jong. 
 
 " O, Jumper ! " said he brokenly, "don't say 
 it ! I didn't do it, they'll tell you so ! "
 
 226 MR. PENDLETOX'S CUP. 
 
 " Don't ^are nothin' 'bout that, we've clonp 
 with ye forever. Ye aint a-going to get 
 another meal nor nothin' to our house, and 
 there's the end on't ! " cried the carpenter, very 
 wrathfully; and then seeing that the Captain 
 was again about to interfere, he left the Office. 
 Joe being thus left suddenly homeless, wept 
 somewhat. What should he do ? Where 
 could he go ? 
 
 Harry left his chair and came around to take 
 Joe's hands, and whisper "Now don't cry 
 one bit, for there's no need of it. If there's no 
 other way, I know papa will take care of you, 
 and oh, wouldn't it be glorious, Joe, to live 
 together, you and I ? " 
 
 Of course it would ; but Joe had not much 
 faith that it would be thus. Mr. Pendleton, 
 who had been a silent observer of all that had 
 passed, now asked 
 
 " Whose boy is that ? " pointing to Joe. 
 
 " Well," replied the Captain soberly, i4 he
 
 NEW POSSESSIONS. 227 
 
 doesn't seem to belong to anybody, just now, 
 That's what's the matter." 
 
 " Ah ? " said the old gentleman, " well, 
 that's funny. Come here, my lad.'' 
 
 Joe obeyed, not without feeling somewhat 
 awed by the old man's strange looks and ap- 
 pearance, and the gentlemen and Harry looked 
 on in surprise. 
 
 u Gray eyes, lightish hair, thin face," mused 
 Mr. Pendleton, quite as if he had no listeners ; 
 " not exactly what my Willie would have been, 
 but then he's something like. What's your 
 name, my lad ? " 
 
 " Joe." 
 
 " Joe, eh ? Humph ! that isn't so pretty as 
 Willie, not half so pretty. How wonld you 
 like to be called Willie, my boy ? " 
 
 Joe's eyes opened to their widest extent with 
 amazement, as did Harry's ; while the gentle- 
 men exchanged glances, as much as to say 
 " He is a little crazed.
 
 228 MR. PENDLETOX'S CUP. 
 
 But you see, they knew nothing of his little 
 Willie. How should they ? but presently they 
 found that there " was method in his mad- 
 ness," after all. . 
 
 "Well, continued Mr. Pendleton, turning 
 Joe round and round as if he were some old 
 relic whose merits he was bound to find, 
 " my Willie would have been taller than this, 
 it seems to me, but Could you feed doves, 
 think you? " he suddenly asked. 
 
 "Yes, sir," said Joe, looking beseechingly 
 at his friends. 
 
 " What's the old fellow driving at, any- 
 how ? " queried the Captain, aside. 
 
 " Wait," said Mr. Harvey, " and I suspect 
 we shall see, presently."" 
 
 A dead silence fell upon the company, in 
 which Mr. Pendleton buried his face in his 
 hands, and mused. Presently he looked up 
 and actually smiled in spite of the rigid 
 wrinkles, and with this unusual expression 
 upon his aged countenance he said
 
 NBW POSSESSIONS. 229 
 
 " Will you go and be my Willie my 
 boy?" 
 
 A startled "O-h-h-I" escaped Harry's lips, 
 in spite of himself, and the gentlemen were 
 quite as much astonished, though they had 
 better control over their feelings. 
 
 u I'll be shot," said the Captain, " if the 
 cup business hasn't gone ahead of everything, 
 from first to last, that ever I heard of ! " 
 
 What could Joe do? The old gentleman 
 was looking with his keen eyes straight into 
 his, and all were waiting for his answer. He 
 did not quite dare to look around at Harry, 
 and after a few minutes of silent hesitation, he 
 said in a low voice " Yes, sir I'll go." 
 
 " Bless you ! " said Mr. Pendleton, with a 
 fervor that was new to him ; " now I've got a 
 little boy again, my boy! my Willie." 
 
 " O papa ! " said Harry, in a whisper, " did 
 you ever hear of such a thing ? " 
 
 " No, my son," said Mr. Thorpe, smiling at
 
 230 MR. PENDLETON'S CUP. 
 
 the oddity of the whole affair, " I never heard 
 of such a thing before, but it's a very nice 
 thing to hear of, I think." 
 
 " Goodness ! " cried the Captain, aside, " I'll 
 be bound the old chap is sharper than the 
 whole of us, now ! Don't you see, he's got 
 cup, reward, boy and all ? Ha ! ha ! ha ! " 
 then to Mr. Pendleton "Better have some 
 papers made out, sir. Have it all straight 
 with the law, you know." 
 
 " No, no ! " said the old gentleman, shaking 
 his head vigorously, u I call all these gentle- 
 men to witness that I adopt this boy as my 
 own, as my son, and heir to all my 
 property." 
 
 " Good for you ! " cried the Captain, enthu- 
 siastically ; this to Joe u Now, little chap, 
 see what a good thing 'twas that I held on to 
 you I Why, if I'd have given you the reward 
 you'd have run off and spent it, and there'd 
 ha' been the end of it ; but now you've got a
 
 NEW POSSESSIONS. 201 
 
 nice home, a bran new father, and everything 
 to match ! Hurrah, Master Joe Pendleton ! " 
 
 " No, no ! " said the old man hurriedly, 
 call him Willie ! Willie I " 
 
 At which the gentlemen looked surprised, 
 but thought it only one of the whims of which 
 the old head was so full. And thus Joe was 
 adopted, and suddenly brought into possession 
 of a home and a father.
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 company at the Police Office now 
 broke up and went to their respective 
 homes, Mr. Pendleton and his two 
 new possessions going home with Mr. 
 Harvey, and the Captain went back to his 
 desk and papers exclaiming 
 
 " Well, I never saw such a fizzle of a case 
 as this has been never ! Between the old 
 gent and those two boys, it's been a pretty 
 muddle from beginning to end." 
 
 Yet when the grim Captain had got fairly at 
 work at his papers, he stopped to think over 
 the whole matter ao;ain and to lauo;h over it
 
 CONCLUSION. 233 
 
 for tli3 tenth rr twentieth time. And at heart 
 he was really pleased with Joe's good fortune. 
 
 As for Harry Thorpe, he did not know 
 whether to laugh or cry ; but concluded at last 
 to consider it a very fortunate circumstance. 
 As for Joe himself, he was at a loss what to 
 say or do, or to think, even. He stood in awe 
 of the old gentleman, and was not at all sure 
 that he could even like him. 
 
 Mr. Pendleton, for a wonder, was quite re- 
 signed to staying over the Sabbath, and com- 
 plained not of inconvenience or fatigue. He 
 followed Joe with his eyes wherever the boy 
 went, and it was not without some difficulty 
 that he got permission to go and bid his friend 
 Harry good-bye on the evening before their 
 departure.. But just as Joe was going down 
 the steps of Mr. Harvey's residence, whpm 
 should he meet but Harry ? and found that 
 his friend had come to bid farewell to him. 
 
 " Come,' 7 said Joe, as soon as they had wel-
 
 234 MR. PENDLETON'S CUP. 
 
 corned each other, "let's go in. I want you 
 to see my new father." 
 
 "No," said Harry, "stay here, Joe. I 
 don't want to see him, for somehow he makes 
 me feel dreadful uncomfortable. I don't like 
 to look at him." 
 
 To which Joe replied, smiling 
 
 "I didn't like to look at him yesterday, but 
 to-day he seems different to me, somehow^ 
 And oh ! he isn't cross a bit, Harry." 
 
 " Isn't he ? " said Harry, looking incredu- 
 lous, " why, I shouldn't think he could help it, 
 he looks so ! But if he's good to you, I'm 
 glad. O, Joe, aren't you sorry to go ? " 
 
 The sudden mist which gathered in JOL s 
 eyes was a truthful answer. He turned awa^ 
 his head and looked down the street, while his 
 lips quivered. And though Harry was just as 
 sorry too, he was fain to offer consolation in 
 this wise : 
 
 " It'll be such a nice home for you, Joe,"
 
 CONCLUSION. 235 
 
 said he bravely ; " and you can go to school no\* 
 as much as you like, and have everything you 
 want ; and I think just as papa does that it's a 
 splendid chance for you." 
 
 "I suppose it is," said Joe, with an effort; 
 " at any rate I mean to do my best, and try to 
 like the old gentleman." 
 
 " And then," continued Harry, " you can 
 come back here sometimes, and see us all, and 
 I can conte and see you ! And then there's a 
 comfort in letters, anyhow, for we can write 
 then as often as we like, can't we, Joe ? ' 
 
 " Y e s," said Joe, " but that won't be like 
 seeing you ! " 
 
 Harry's eyes twinkled at this, and he said 
 
 " What'll you give to carry me with you, 
 Joe ? " 
 
 " Carry you with me ? why, I don't under- 
 stand ! How could I take you with me, 
 Harry ? " looking doubtful. 
 
 " O, there's a way ! Can't you guess ?
 
 236 MR. PENDLETOX'S CUP. 
 
 Well, if you can't, look here," and Harry drevc 
 something from his overcoat pocket. 
 
 Joe came close to his friend, and saw a neat 
 little morocco case. 
 
 "Now if you can't guess," said Harry, "you 
 must find out your^lf ! " and with this he put 
 
 the dainty square into his friend's hands. Joe 
 
 
 eagerly opened it, and found Harry himself ! 
 
 the same brave, merry head, the same 
 curling locks and frank eyes, whose' counter- 
 parts were just now sparkling with pleasure. 
 
 " O," cried Joe, under his breath, " it's 
 you ! '' and could not look at it enough 
 
 " Well," said Harry, at length, " now can't 
 you take me with you, Joe? Haven't you 
 room? " 
 
 Joe looked up, astonished. 
 
 " Why you you don't mean it's mine ? " 
 
 " Yes I do. It's yours, to do what you like 
 with ! " 
 
 " But," said Joe, " what will your father and 
 mother say? I'm afraid they "
 
 CONCLUSION. 237 
 
 " Pshaw, Joe ! papa gave it to me himself 
 to give to you, and he's going to get another. 
 Wasn't it good of him ? " 
 
 " Yes, it was too good of him. I don't de- 
 serve such a nice picture, Harry, and the only 
 one he had of you ! " 
 
 " Oh, that's nothing, for he can get another 
 easy enough, and you're just as welcome to it 
 as you can be ! " said Harry ; " and now' if I 
 only had one of you, we'd be even. But I can 
 wait, I guess, till you have time to get one in 
 Darnleigh." 
 
 Here Joe chanced to look up and saw Mr. . 
 Pendleton watching them at one of the front 
 windows. Harry's eyes followed his friend's, 
 and discovered the old gentleman too. 
 
 " I declare ! " he exclaimed, " I didn't sus- 
 pect he was watching us. What stern eyes 
 he's got. O, I hope he'll be good to you, Joe ! 
 and if he isn't, don't stay with him a dajr, for 
 you can have a home with us. I really believe
 
 238 MR. PENDLETOX'S CUP. 
 
 if the old gentleman hadn't spoken just as he 
 did, yesterday, papa would have had you lived 
 with us ; and oh, I wish it could have been 
 so!" 
 
 Joe secretly wished so too, but said 
 
 " I guess it's best as it is, Harry. I'll be 
 happy, I know." 
 
 " Of course, Joe ! but see how dark it's 
 getting, and the bells are just beginning to ring 
 for evening service. I must go ! papa won't 
 like me to stay any longer. Now " 
 
 He meant to say good-bye, but Joe looked 
 .around just then at him so wistful and .so sad. 
 that the words died away and were not uttered ; 
 and giving his friend's hand a farewell squeeze, 
 Harry ran off homeward as fast as he could go. 
 Joe lingered on the pavement and watched the 
 hurrying figure till it disappeared in the dusk, 
 and yet when it was quite out of sight he still 
 tarried, watching, the heavy clamor of the 
 bells filling his ears. Then, with his precious 
 picture in his jacket-pocket he went in.
 
 CONCLUSION. 239 
 
 The next morning Mr. Harvey's household 
 were early astir, for there was something to 
 be done to get the two journeyers safely on 
 their way. Joe had to be clothed in new 
 garments from head to foot, and nice, warm 
 clothes they were which the old gentleman 
 ordered. In a well-fitting suit, with cap, 
 overcoat, and boots, Joe looked another per- 
 son, and Mr. Pendleton was better pleased 
 with his appearance than ever. 
 
 And when the needed change in his appear- 
 ance had been made, they started on this 
 bright Monday morning for Darnleigh, the 
 old gentleman bearing off his new possessions 
 in triumph. We, who have been over the 
 road before, need see nothing of them till they 
 arrive safely at the end of their journey. 
 Here Mr. Pendleton left the depot, the cup 
 safe in his valise, and his other treasure walk- 
 ing beside him, and proceeded to walk 
 homeward in as staid and orderly manner as
 
 240 MR. PENDLETON'S CUP. 
 
 any one. Joe's eyes, you may be sure, keenly 
 surveyed the ancient-looking dwelling at which 
 they stopped. Mr. Pendleton led the way 
 straight to the front entrance, and rang a peal 
 which I'll warrant the echoing rooms had not 
 heard before in many a year, and which 
 brought old Kate in great hurry and dismay 
 to see what was the matter. 
 
 u Lawk, master ! " she cried, when she had 
 succeeded in unfastening and opening the un- 
 used door, " is it you?" and stared at him as 
 if she thought he had gone crazy. 
 
 " Yes, yes, my good Kate ! " said the old 
 gentleman gleefully, "it's me, and I've brought 
 you company. Here's my boy my Willie, 
 
 come to live with me. Isn't it a nice boy, 
 
 and don't you remember my little Willie, 
 good Kate ? " 
 
 " Lawk, yes, master ! " said the old house- 
 keeper wonderingly, " but he's been dead this 
 thirty year ! "
 
 CONCLUSION. 241 
 
 Whereat the old gentleman rubbed his fore- 
 head confusedly, and said 
 
 "Yes, thirty-four years ago; but here's 
 another Willie come to live with the old man, 
 and feed the doves, and run about, and make 
 the house pleasant. Isn't it a nice boy, 
 Kate?" 
 
 The housekeeper made a courtesy by way 
 of reply, and led the way into the cabinet 
 where the afternoon sunshine was streaming 
 in, and made the room look tolerably cheerful 
 to Joe's wondering eyes. Then she hurried 
 off to the kitchen to bring them some refresh- 
 ment, whispering into the darkness of her 
 cupboard, as a great secret, that " She be- 
 lieved master had gone clean crazy this time!" 
 I think Joe began to think so, too, when 
 he saw how strangely the old gentleman acted 
 some of the time ; and that first afternoon he 
 was home-sick somewhat, for which we cannot 
 blame him much. But as days passed away,
 
 242 ME. PENDLETON'S CUP. 
 
 and be saw more 1 and more of his benefactor, 
 and filled a warmer place in the old man's 
 heart, I think he understood him better than 
 any one had ever done before. He even 
 began to like the But all this you shall have 
 in words of his own : 
 
 " DARNLEIGH, FEB. 5th, 18 . 
 DEAR HARRY : 
 
 Your letter, written two nights after I left 
 Waynethorpe, got to me safely, and oh ! you 
 can't know how glad I was to get it ; for you 
 see, I was dreadful homesick then, and almost 
 starving to hear from what was home a little 
 while ago. Now I've so much to tell you that 
 I don't know where to begin first, but I'll go 
 clear back to the afternoon when we arrived 
 here, and tell you all about it, as long as my 
 paper will hold out. (Did you ever see such 
 funny yellow old paper as this ? Mr. P. got it 
 for me out of a drawer in the book-case, and I
 
 CONCLUSION. 243 
 
 guoss it's twenty or thirty years old from what 
 he said about it.) 
 
 Well, we got to Darnleigh depot safe and 
 sound, and walked up here. I was surprised 
 to find what a great house it was he lived in, 
 and it made me homesick the first thing, it 
 looked so gloomy ! and then we had such a 
 time getting in at the front-door. It hadn't 
 been opened before so the old house-keeper 
 told me afterwards in many years, and it 
 was well stuck together, I can tell you ! Why 
 he went in at that door I can't imagine. 
 
 Well, after we got in, old Kate (his house- 
 keeper) led us into a room which is called the 
 cabinet, and as the sun shone in it was pleasant 
 a little. It is crammed so full of books that 
 there's hardly room to get about without 
 stumbling over 'em, and in here we had our 
 supper he and . I and when we were 
 through that what do you think he did ? Oh ! 
 you can't think how astonished I was, and T
 
 244 MR. PEMJLETON'S GUP. 
 
 didn't understand it at all then, but I do LJW. 
 He took a piece of bread off the plate and said 
 4 Come, Willie, it's time to feed the doves.' 1 
 didn't know what to say, but he got up from 
 the table and opened the window, and said 
 * Here they are ! come quick ! ' and I looked 
 out and there were great flocks of the prettiest 
 doves you ever saw, right under the window ! 
 4 Give me the bread,' said I, * and I'll feed 
 them.' But he said ' No I no ! you must 
 sit in the window to do it ! Get up and scatter 
 the crumbs about, and see how they'll chatter ! ' 
 So I got up in the window-seat and sat there, 
 and threw crumbs about to the birds, and 
 called them ; while he sat in his arm-chair and 
 nodded and laughed, and said ' That's right ! 
 that's right ! they know it's you, Willie ! ' O, 
 Harry, I can't tell you how strangely it made 
 me feel to hear him say that, and look at me 
 BO I I certainly thought he was crazy. 
 
 But the other day the housekeeper told me
 
 CONCLUSION, 245 
 
 all about it. She said that a great many years 
 ago he had a little boy whose name was Willie, 
 and that this little boy and his mother died ; 
 and one of this little fellow's pleasures was to 
 sit in the window and feed the doves. And 
 Mr. P. has never forgot it, and that is the 
 reason he wanted me to do it, and I suppose 
 that is why he always calls me Willie. So 
 now it is one of my duties to feed the doves 
 every day, and I begin to like to do it, because 
 it pleases him so much, you know, though I 
 don't quite like to feel myself occupying another 
 little boy's place. I've got over thinking the 
 old gentleman crazy unless he's a little 
 touched (as the housekeeper says ) about the 
 boy whom he lost. 
 
 Sometimes he speaks as if I were that very 
 Willie, and again he seems to think of me as 
 what I am. But, Harry, I've found that he's 
 got a real warm, kind heart, and I'm pretty 
 sure I've got a big place in it ; and if I'm not
 
 246 MR. PENDLETON'S CUP. 
 
 mistaken he's getting less and less crusty every 
 day, and more like other people. Wouldn't it 
 be a good thing to do, if I could help make 
 him so ? 
 
 I'm not going to school till Spring, and am 
 going to have a long vacation. I believe it 
 would take me a year to look over one-half 
 of the things which he has got stored in these 
 great rooms. Oh ! there are such sights ! and 
 such wonders ! and all covered thick with dust ! 
 But I spoke about it the other day, and he 
 said he would have 'em cleaned up. 
 
 Now, dear Harry, when are you coming to 
 see me ? Your picture is not enough to look 
 at, and I want to see you. But if you can't 
 come till vacation, we'll have the old house 
 looking all the better for you ! and he said 
 (I mean Mr. Pendleton, it don't come quite 
 right to call him father, though I do sometimes 
 it pleases him so) that you were to stay a 
 month or two. So come prepared. Now I
 
 CONCLUSION. 247 
 
 haven't said one-half that I was going to, but 
 this sheet of paper is giving out. But I want 
 to tell you this: I'm so thankful every day 
 of my life that I didn't keep that cup and sell 
 it ! What kept me from it, God ? 
 
 Now I got all over my home-sickness long 
 ago, and am just as happy and contented as 
 you are. The bank-note in this letter I want 
 you to give to Jumper, and tell him how well 
 off I am. He was drunk that day poor 
 fellow and I can forgive him those words. 
 
 How is the Captain ? The other half of 
 what I was to tell you I'll put in my next. 
 
 Now don't forget to write soon and long to 
 9 JOE. 
 
 As Joe has neglected to add a post-script, 
 we will supply the omission with this : 
 
 As week after week went past, Mr. Pendle- 
 ton began to lose the crustiness which had 
 grown nearly over his heart, and 'the warm,
 
 248. MR. PENDLETON'S CUP. 
 
 healthful influence which Joe's ways exerted 
 upon him brought him at length from behind 
 the screen of reserve and coldness with which 
 he had sheltered himself, into the brightness 
 and sunlight of love and geniality. And as 
 with the boy's presence came sunlight and 
 cleanliness and order into the old man's treas- 
 ure-house, so into the treasure-house of his 
 heart came warmth and love to brighten and 
 beautify everything, and transform him to a 
 genial, cheerful old man, with a heart younger 
 than his body. And so, you see, the Cup was 
 the means of bringing him that which was 
 worth ten thousand times more than itself 
 Something to love, ana something to be loved 
 by.
 
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