Ralph had entered the office just as Rhyming Joe reached the point of his disclosure. He had heard him declare, in emphatic tones: “I say the boy Ralph is not Robert Burnham’s son.”

It was as though some one had struck him. He dropped into a chair and sat as if under a spell, listening to every word that was uttered. He was powerless to move or to speak until the man who had told the cruel story had passed by him in the dark and gone down the walk into the street.

Then he arose and followed him; he did not know just why, but it seemed as if he must see him, if only to beg him to declare that the story he had just heard him tell was all a lie. And yet Ralph believed that Rhyming Joe had told the truth. Why should he not believe him when Sharpman himself had put such faith in the tale as to purchase the man’s silence with money. But if the story were true, if it were true, then it should be known; Mrs. Burnham should know it, Mr. Goodlaw should know it, Mr. Sharpman should not conceal it, Rhyming Joe must not be allowed to depart until he had told it on the witness-stand, in open court. He must see him, Ralph thought; he must find him, he must, in some way, compel him to remain. The sound of the man’s footsteps had not yet died away as the boy ran after him along the street, but half-way down the block his breath grew short, his heart began to pound against his breast, he pressed his hand to his side as if in pain, and staggered up to a lamp-post for support.

When he recovered sufficiently to start on, Rhyming Joe had passed out of both sight and hearing. Ralph hurried down the street until he reached Lackawanna Avenue, and there he stopped, wondering which way to turn. But there was no time to lose. If the man should escape him now he might never see him again, he might never hear from his lips whether the dreadful story was really and positively true. He felt that Rhyming Joe would not lie to him to-night, nor deceive him, nor deny his request to make the truth known to those who ought to know it, if he could only find him and speak to him, and if the man could only see how utterly miserable he was. He plunged in among the Sunday evening saunterers, and hurried up the street, looking to the right and to the left, before and behind him, hastening on as he could. Once he thought he saw, just ahead, the object of his search. He ran up to speak to him, looked into his face, and it was some one else.

Finally he reached the head of the avenue and turned up toward the Dunmore road. Then he came back, crossed over, and went down on the other side of the street. Block after block he traversed, looking into the face of every man he met, glancing into doorways and dark corners, making short excursions into side streets; block after block, until he reached the Hyde Park bridge. He was tired and disheartened as he turned back and wondered what he should do next. Then it occurred to him that he had promised to meet Mr. Sharpman that night. Perhaps the lawyer was still waiting for him. Perhaps, if he should appeal to him, the lawyer would help him to find Rhyming Joe, and to make the truth known before injustice should be done.

He turned his steps in the direction of Sharpman’s office, reached it finally, went up the little walk, tried to open the door, and found it locked. The lights were out, the lawyer had gone. Ralph was very tired, and he sat down on the door-step to rest and to try to think. He felt that he had made every effort to find Rhyming Joe and had failed. To-morrow the man would be gone. Sharpman would go to Wilkesbarre. The evidence in the Burnham case would be closed. The jury would come into court and declare that he, Ralph, was Robert Burnham’s son and it would be all a lie. Oh, no! he could not let that be done. His whole moral nature cried out against it. He must see Sharpman to-night and beg him to put a stop to so unjust a cause. To-morrow it might be too late. He rose and started down the walk to find the lawyers dwelling. But he did not know in which direction to turn. A man was passing along the street, and Ralph accosted him:

“Please, can you tell me where Mr. Sharpman lives?” he asked.

“I don’t know anything about him,” replied the man gruffly, starting on.

In a minute another man came by, and Ralph repeated his question.

“I don’t know where he does live, sonny,” said the man, “but I know where he would live if I had my choice as to his dwelling-place; he’d reside in the county jail,” and this man, too, passed on.

Ralph went back and sat down on the steps again.

The sky had become covered with clouds, no stars were visible, and it was very dark.

What was to be done now? He had failed to find Rhyming Joe, he had failed to find Lawyer Sharpman. The early morning train would carry both of them beyond his reach. Suppose it should? Suppose the case at Wilkesbarre should go on to its predicted end, and the jury should bring in their expected verdict, what then?

Why, then the law would declare him to be Robert Burnham’s son; the title, the position, the fortune would all be his; Mrs. Burnham would take him to her home, and lavish love and care upon him; all this unless unless he should tell what he had heard. Ah! there was a thought. Suppose he should not tell, suppose he should let the case go on just as though he had not known the truth, just as though he had stayed at home that night instead of coming to the city; who would ever be the wiser? who would ever suspect him of knowing that the verdict was unjust? He might yet have it all, all, if only he would hold his tongue. His heart beat wildly with the thought, his breath came in gasps, something in his throat seemed choking him. But that would be wrong he knew it would be wrong, and wicked; a sense of shame came over him, and he cast the tempting thought aside.

No, there was but one thing for him, as an honest boy, to do, and that was to tell what he had heard.

If he could tell it soon enough to hold the verdict back, so much the better, if he could not, still he had no right to keep his knowledge to himself the story must be known. And then farewell to all his hopes, his plans, his high ambition. No beautiful home for him now, no loving mother nor winsome sister nor taste of any joy that he had thought to know. It was hard to give them up, it was terrible, but it must be done.

He fell to thinking of his visit to his mother. It seemed to him as though it were something that had taken place very long ago. It was like a sweet dream that he had dreamed as a little boy. He wondered if it was indeed only that afternoon that it had all occurred. It had been so beautiful, so very beautiful; and now! Could it be that this boy, sitting weak, wretched, disconsolate, on the steps of this deserted office, in the night-time, was the same boy whose feet had scarcely touched the ground that afternoon for buoyant happiness? Oh, it was dreadful! dreadful! He began to wonder why he did not cry. He put up his hands to see if there were any tears on his cheeks, but he found none. Did only people cry who had some gentler cause for tears?

But the thought of what would happen if he should keep his knowledge to himself came back again into his mind. He drove it out, but it returned. It had a fascination about it that was difficult to resist. It would be so easy simply to say nothing. And who would ever know that he was not Mrs. Burnham’s son? Why, Old Simon would know, but he would not dare to tell; Lawyer Sharpman would know, but he would not dare to tell; Rhyming Joe would know, but he would not dare to tell, at least, not for a long time. And suppose it should be known after a year, after two years or longer, who would blame him? he would be supposed to have been ignorant of it all; he would be so established by that time in his new home that he would not have to leave it. They might take his property, his money, all things else, but he knew that if he could but live with Mrs. Burnham for a year she would never let him leave her, and that was all he cared for at any rate.

But then, he himself would know that he had no right there; he would have to live with this knowledge always with him, he would have to walk about with an ever present lie on his mind and in his heart. He could not do that, he would not do it; he must disclose his knowledge, and make some effort to see that justice was not mocked. But it was too late to do anything to-night. He wondered how late it was. He thought of Bachelor Billy waiting for him at home. He feared that the good man would be worried on account of his long absence. A clock in a church tower not far away struck ten. Ralph started to his feet, went out into the street again, and up toward home.

But Uncle Billy! what would Uncle Billy say when he should tell him what he had heard? Would he counsel him to hold his tongue? Ah, no! the boy knew well the course that Uncle Billy would mark out for him.

But it would be a great blow to the man; he would grieve much on account of the lad’s misfortune; he would feel the pangs of disappointment as deeply as did Ralph himself. Ought he not to be spared this pain?

And then, a person holding the position of Robert Burnham’s son could give much comfort to the man who had been his dearest friend, could place him beyond the reach of possible want, could provide well for the old age that was rapidly approaching, could make happy and peaceful the remnant of his days. Was it not the duty of a boy to do it?

But, ah! he would not have the good man look into his heart and see the lie there, not for worlds.

Ralph was passing along the same streets that he had traversed in coming to the city two hours before; but now the doors of the houses were closed, the curtains were drawn, the lights were out, there was no longer any sound of sweet voices at the steps, nor any laughter, nor any music in the air. A rising wind was stirring the foliage of the trees into a noise like the subdued sobbing of many people; the streets were deserted, a fine rain had begun to fall, and out on the road, after the lad had left the suburbs, it was very dark. Indeed, it was only by reason of long familiarity with the route that he could find his way at all.

But the storm and darkness outside were not to be compared with the tempest in his heart; that was terrible. He had about made up his mind to tell Bachelor Billy everything and to follow his advice when he chanced to think of Mrs. Burnham, and how great her pain and disappointment would be when she should know the truth. He knew that she believed him now to be her son; that she was ready to take him to her home, that she counted very greatly on his coming, and was impatient to bestow on him all the care and devotion that her mother’s heart could conceive. It would be a bitter blow to her, oh, a very bitter blow. It would be like raising her son from the dead only to lay him back into his grave after the first day.

What right had he to inflict such torture as this on a lady who had been so kind to him? What right? Did not her love for him and his love for her demand that he should keep silence? But, oh! to hear the sound of loving words from her lips and know that he did not deserve them, to feel her mother’s kisses on his cheek and know that his heart was dark with deep deceit. Could he endure that? could he?

As Ralph turned the corner of the village street, he saw the light from Bachelor Billy’s window shining out into the darkness. There were no other lights to be seen. People went early to bed there; they must rise early in the morning.

The boy knew that his Uncle Billy was waiting for him, doubtless with much anxiety, but, now that he had reached the cottage, he stood motionless by the door. He was trying to decide what he should do and say on entering. To tell Uncle Billy or not to tell him, that was the question. He had never kept anything from him before; this would be the first secret he had not shared with him. And Uncle Billy had been so good to him, too, so very good! Yes, he thought he had better tell him; he would do it now, before his resolution failed. He raised his hand to lift the latch. Again he hesitated. If he should tell him, that would end it all. The good man would never allow him to act a falsehood. He would have to bid farewell to all his sweet dreams of home, and his high plans for life, and step back into the old routine of helpless poverty and hopeless toil. He felt that he was not quite ready to do that yet; heart, mind, body, all rebelled against it. He would wait and hope for some way out, without the sacrifice of all that he had longed for. His hand fell nerveless to his side. He still stood waiting on the step in the beating rain.

But then, it was wrong to keep silent, wrong! wrong! wrong!

The word went echoing through his mind like the stern sentence of some high court; conscience again pushed her way to the front, and the struggle in the boy’s heart went on with a fierceness that was terrible.

Suddenly the door was opened from the inside, and Bachelor Billy stood there, shading his eyes with his hand and peering out into the darkness.

“Ralph,” he said, “is that yo’ a-stannin’ there i’ the rain? Coom in, lad; coom in wi’ ye! Why!” he exclaimed, as the boy entered the room, “ye’re a’ drippin’ wet!”

“Yes, Uncle Billy, it’s a-rainin’ pirty hard; I believe I I believe I did git wet.”

The boy’s voice sounded strange and hard even to himself. Bachelor Billy looked down into his face questioningly.

“What’s the matter wi’ ye, Ralph? Soun’s like as if ye’d been a-cryin’. Anything gone wrong?”

“Oh, no. Only I’m tired, that’s all, an’ an’ wet.”

“Ye look bad i’ the face. Mayhap an’ ye’re a bit sick?”

“No, I ain’t sick.”

“Wull, then, off wi’ the wet duddies, an’ we’ll be a-creepin’ awa’ to bed.”

As Ralph proceeded to remove his wet clothing, Bachelor Billy watched him with increasing concern. The boy’s face was white and haggard, there were dark crescents under his eyes, his movements were heavy and confused, he seemed hardly to know what he was about.

“Has the lawyer said aught to mak’ ye unhappy, Ralph?” inquired Billy at last.

“No, I ain’t seen Mr. Sharpman. He wasn’t in. He was in when I first went there, but somebody else was there a-talkin’ to ‘im, an’ I went out to wait, an’ w’en I got back again the office was locked, so I didn’t see ’im.”

“Ye’ve been a lang time gone, lad?”

“Yes, I waited aroun’, thinkin’ maybe he’d come back, but he didn’t. I didn’t git started for home” till just before it begun to rain.”

“Mayhap ye got a bit frightened a-comin’ up i’ the dark?”

“No well, I did git just a little scared a-comin’ by old N shaft; I thought I heard a funny noise in there.”

“Ye s’ould na be oot so late alone. Nex’ time I’ll go wi’ ye mysel’!”

Ralph finished the removal of his wet clothing, and went to bed, glad to get where Bachelor Billy could not see his face, and where he need not talk.

“I’ll wait up a bit an’ finish ma pipe,” said the man, and he leaned back in his chair and began again his slow puffing.

He knew that something had gone wrong with Ralph. He feared that he was either sick or in deep trouble. He did not like to question him too closely, but he thought he would wait a little before going to bed and see if there were any further developments.

Ralph could not sleep, but he tried to lie very still. A half-hour went by, and then Bachelor Billy stole softly to the bed and looked down into the lad’s face. He was still awake.

“Have you got your pipe smoked out, Uncle Billy?” he asked.

“Yes, lad; I ha’ just finished it.”

“Then are you comin’ to bed now?”

“I thocht to. Do ye want for anything?”

“Oh, no! I’m all right.”

The man began to prepare for bed.

After a while Ralph spoke.

“Uncle Billy!”

“What is it, lad?”

“I’ve been thinkin’, s’pose this suit should go against us, do you b’lieve Mrs. Burnham would do anything more for me?”

“She’s a gude woman, Ralph. Na doot she’d care for ye; but ye could na hope to have her tak’ ye to her hame, an they proved ye waur no’ her son.”

“An’ then an’ then I’d stay right along with you, wouldn’t I?”

“I hope so, lad, I hope so. I want ye s’ould stay wi’ me till ye find a better place.”

“Oh, I couldn’t find a better place to stay, I know I couldn’t, ’xcept with my ’xcept with Mrs. Burnham.”

“Wull, ye need na worry aboot the matter. Ye’ll ha’ naught to fear fra the trial, I’m thinkin’. Gae to sleep noo; ye’ll feel better i’ the mornin’, na doot.”

Ralph was silent, but only for a minute. A new thought was working slowly into his mind.

“But, Uncle Billy,” he said, “s’pose they should prove, to-morrow, ’at Simon Craft is my own gran’father, would I have to Oh! Uncle Billy!”

The lad started up in bed, sat there for a moment with wildly staring eyes, and then sprang to the floor trembling with excitement and fear.

“Oh, don’t!” he cried; “Uncle Billy, don’t let him take me back there to live with him! I couldn’t stan’ it! I couldn’t! I’d die! I can’t go, Uncle Billy! I can’t!”

“There, there, lad! ha’ no fear; ye’ll no’ go back, I’ll no’ let ye.”

The man had Ralph in his arms trying to quiet him.

“But,” persisted the boy, “he’ll come for me, he’ll, make me go. If they find out I’m his gran’son there at the court, they’ll tell him to take me, I know they will!”

“But ye’re no’ his gran’son, Ralph, ye’ve naught to do wi’ ’im. Ye’re Robert Burnham’s son.”

“Oh, no, Uncle Billy, I ain’t, I ” He stopped suddenly. The certain result of disclosing his knowledge to his Uncle Billy flashed warningly across his mind. If Bachelor Billy knew it, Mrs. Burnham must know it; if Mrs. Burnham knew it, Goodlaw and the court must know it, the verdict would be against him, Simon Craft would come to take him back to the terrors of his wretched home, and he would have to go. The law that would deny his claim as Robert Burnham’s son would stamp him as the grandson of Simon Craft, and place him again in his cruel keeping.

Oh, no! he must not tell. If there were reasons for keeping silence before, they were increased a hundred-fold by the shadow of this last danger. He felt that he had rather die than go back to live with Simon Craft.

Bachelor Billy was rocking the boy in his arms as he would have rocked a baby.

“There, noo, there, noo, quiet yoursel’,” he said, and his voice was very soothing, “quiet yoursel’; ye’ve naught to dread; it’ll a’ coom oot richt. What’s happenit to ye, Ralph, that ye s’ould be so fearfu’?”

“N nothin’; I’m tired, that’s all. I guess I’ll go to bed again.”

He went back to bed, but not to sleep. Hot and feverish, and with his mind in a tumult, he tossed about, restlessly, through the long hours of the night. He had decided at last that he could not tell what he had heard at Sharpman’s office. The thought of having to return to Simon Craft had settled the matter in his mind. The other reasons for his silence he had lost sight of now; this last one outweighed them all, and placed a seal upon his tongue that he felt must not be broken.

Toward morning he fell into a troubled sleep and dreamed that Old Simon was holding him over the mouth of Burnham Shaft, threatening to drop him down into it, while Sharpman stood by, with his hands in his pockets, laughing heartily at his terror. He managed to cry out, and awoke both himself and Bachelor Billy. He started up in bed, clutching at the coverings in an attempt, to save himself from apparent disaster, trembling from head to foot, moaning hoarsely in his fright.

“What is it, Ralph, lad, what’s ailin’ ye?”

“Oh, don’t! don’t let him throw me Uncle Billy, is that you?”

“It’s me, Ralph. Waur ye dreamin’? There, never mind; no one s’all harm ye, ye’re safe i’ the bed at hame. Gae to sleep, lad, gae to sleep.”

“I thought they was goin’ to throw me down the shaft. I must ‘a’ been a-dreamin’.”

“Yes, ye waur dreamin’. Gae to sleep.”

But Ralph did not go to sleep again that night, and when the first gray light of the dawning day came in at the cottage window he arose. Bachelor Billy was still wrapped in heavy slumber, and the boy moved about cautiously so as not to waken him.

When he was dressed he went out and sat on a bench by the door. The storm of the night before had left the air cool and sweet, and it refreshed him to sit there and breathe it, and watch the sun as it came up from behind the long slanting roof of Burnham Breaker.

But he was very miserable, very miserable indeed. It was not so much the sense of fear, of pain, of disappointment that disturbed him now, it was the misery of a fettered conscience, the shadow of an ever present shame.

Finally the door was opened and Bachelor Billy stepped out.

“Good mornin’, Uncle Billy,” said the boy, trying to speak cheerfully.

“Gude mornin’ till ye, Ralph! Ye’re up airly the mornin’. I mak’ free to say ye’re a-feelin’ better.”

“Yes, I am. I didn’t sleep very well, but I’m better this mornin’. I wisht it was all over with the trial I mean; you see it’s a-makin’ me kind o’ nervous an’ an’ tired. I can’t stan’ much ’xcitement, some way.”

“Wull, ye’ll no’ ha’ lang to wait I’m a-thinkin’. It’ll be ower the day. What aboot you’re gaein’ to Wilkesbarre?”

“I don’t know. I guess I’ll go down to Mr. Sharpman’s office after a while, an’ see if he’s left any word for me.”

Mrs. Maloney appeared at her door.

“The top o’ the mornin’ to yez!” she cried, cheerily. “It’s a fine mornin’ this!”

Both Bachelor Billy and Ralph responded to the woman’s hearty greeting. She continued:

“Ye’ll be afther gettin’ out in the air, I mind, to sharpen up the appetites; an’ a-boardin’ with a widdy, too, bad ’cess to ye!”

Mrs. Maloney was inclined to be jovial, as well as kind-hearted. “Well, I’ve a bite on the table for yez, an ye don’t come an’ ate it, the griddle-cakes’ll burn an’ the coffee’ll be cowld, an’ why, Ralph, is it sick ye are? sure, ye’re not lookin’ right well.”

“I wasn’t feelin’ very good las’ night, Mrs. Maloney, but I’m better this mornin’.”

The sympathetic woman took the boy’s hand and rubbed it gently, and, with many inquiries and much advice, she led him to the table. He forced himself to eat a little food and to drink something that the good woman had prepared for him, which, she declared emphatically, would drive off the “wakeness.”

Bachelor Billy did not take his dinner with him that morning as usual. He said he would come back at noon to learn whether anything new had occurred in the matter of the lawsuit, and whether it would be necessary for Ralph to go to Wilkesbarre.

He was really much concerned about the boy. Ralph’s conduct since the evening before had been a mystery to him. He knew that something was troubling the lad greatly; but, whatever it was, he had faith that Ralph would meet it manfully, the more manfully, perhaps, without his help. So he went away with cheering predictions concerning the suit, and with kindly admonition to the boy to remain as quiet as possible and try to sleep.

But Ralph could not sleep, nor could he rest. He was laboring under too much excitement still to do either. He walked nervously about the cottage for a while, then he started down toward the city. He went first to Sharpman’s office, and the clerk told him that Mr. Sharpman had left word that Ralph need not go to Wilkesbarre that day. Then he went on to the heart of the city. He was trying to divert himself, trying to drown his thought, as people try who are suffering from the reproaches of conscience.

He walked down to the railroad station. He wondered if Rhyming Joe had gone. He supposed he had. He did not care to see him now, at any rate.

He sat on a bench in the waiting-room for a few minutes to rest, then he went out into the street again. But he was very wretched. It seemed to him as though all persons whom he met looked down on him disdainfully, as if they knew of his proposed deceit, and despised him for it. A lady coming toward him crossed to the other side of the walk before she reached him. He wondered if she saw disgrace in his face and was trying to avoid him.

After that he left the busy streets and walked back, by a less frequented route, toward home. The day was very bright and warm, but the brightness had a cold glare in Ralph’s eyes, and he actually shivered as he walked on in the shade of the trees. He crossed to the sunny side of the street, and hurried along through the suburbs and up the hill.

Widow Maloney called to him as he reached the cottage door, to ask after his health; but he told her he was feeling better, and went on into his own room. He closed the door behind him, locked it, and threw himself down upon the bed. He was very wretched. Oh, very wretched, indeed.

He had decided to keep silent, and to let the case at Wilkesbarre go on to its expected end, but the decision had brought to him no peace; it had only made him more unhappy than he was before. But why should it do this? Was he not doing what was best? Would it not be better for Uncle Billy, for Mrs. Burnham, for himself? Must he, for the sake of some farfetched moral principle, throw himself into the merciless clutch of Simon Craft?

Thus the fight began again, and the battle in the boy’s heart went on with renewed earnestness. He gave to his conscience, one by one, the reasons that he had for acting the part of Robert Burnham’s son; good reasons they were too, overwhelmingly convincing they seemed to him; but his conscience, like an angel with a flaming sword, rejected all of them, declaring constantly that what he thought to do would be a grievous wrong.

But whom would it wrong? Not Ralph Burnham, for he was dead, and it could be no wrong to him; not Mrs. Burnham, for she would rejoice to have this boy with her, even though she knew he was not her son; not Bachelor Billy, for he would be helped to comfort and to happiness. And yet there stood the angel with the flaming sword crying out always that it was wrong.

But whom would it wrong? himself? Ah! there was a thought would it be wronging himself?

Well, would it not? Had it not already made a coward of him? Was it not degrading him in his own eyes? Was it not trying to stifle the voice of conscience in his breast? Would it not make of him a living, walking lie? a thing to be shunned and scorned? Had he a right to place a burden so appalling on himself? Would it not be better to face the toil, the pain, the poverty, the fear? Would it not be better even to die than to live a life like that?

He sprang from the bed with clenched hands and flashing eyes and swelling nostrils. A fire of moral courage had blazed up suddenly in his breast. His better nature rose to the help of the angel with the flaming sword, and together they fought, as the giants of old fought the dragons in their path. Then hope came back, and courage grew, and resolution found new footing. He stood there as he stood that day on the carriage that bore Robert Burnham to his death, the light of heroism in his eyes, the glow of splendid faith illuming his face. He could not help but conquer. He drove the spirit of temptation from his breast, and enthroned in its stead the principle of everlasting right. There was no thought now of yielding; he felt brave and strong to meet every trial, yes, every terror that might lie in his path, without flinching one hair’s breadth from the stern line of duty.

But now that his decision was made, he must act, and that promptly. What was the first thing to be done? Why, the first thing always was to confide in Uncle Billy, and to ask for his advice.

He seized his hat and started up the village street and across the hill to Burnham Breaker There was no lagging now, no indecision in his step, no doubt within his mind.

He was once more brave, hopeful, free-hearted, ready to do anything or all things, that justice might be done and truth become established.

The sun shone down upon him tenderly, the birds sang carols to him on the way, the blossoming trees cast white flowers at his feet; but he never stayed his steps nor turned his thought until the black heights of Burnham Breaker threw their shadows on his head.