“Do you mean you feel badly because Matilda was so reduced in finances that she couldn’t even meet a small account like her milk bill?” asked Hugh, fishing for a bite.

“Why, yes, partly that,” said Thad, slowly; “but it knocked me all in a heap to see that old rascal of a Brother Lu walk out with the last dollar he had in the wide world, and gladly hand it over to liquidate that same account.  Say, if we didn’t just know he was a bad one, I’d call that a really generous act.”

“Oh,” chuckled Hugh, “not so very generous, after all, when you come to examine things closer.  Don’t forget, Thad, that he’s been sponging on that poor couple for a good many weeks already; and then, if our calculations are correct, he means to fasten on them for keeps.”

“That’s so,” agreed the other, heaving a sigh as though he felt somewhat relieved in his mind to have his comrade point out a solution to the problem.  “Of course, he’s imposing on his relatives something shameful, and the least he could do was to toe the scratch when an emergency came along.  But he did the thing up brown, I must admit.”

“And then again, how do we know that five dollars was every cent he had in the world?” asked Hugh, insinuatingly.

“He said as much,” declared Thad, instantly; and then laughed as he hastened to add:  “though for that matter what would one little white lie mean to a fellow as case-hardened as an old hobo?  There’s another thing I’m thinking about, Hugh.”

“I can guess it,” the second boy immediately told him.  “You’re wondering what it was Brother Lu meant to buy with his little fortune, eh?”

“Well, five dollars isn’t so very much when you come to think of it, Hugh, but to a tramp it might seem a pile.  But didn’t he tell us he and Brother-in-law Andrew had some sort of a little scheme hatched up to give Matilda a surprise on her birthday, tomorrow, Saturday?”

“Just what he did,” admitted Hugh.  “They’ve been plotting how to spend five dollars recklessly, so as to get the most for their money.  Such men are apt to find heaps of enjoyment in blowing in their money a dozen times, and changing off just as often.  I wouldn’t be surprised a bit if they even calculated whether they could run across a nice little home that they could buy and present to Matilda for a birthday present—–­faithful, big-hearted Matilda.”

“What! for five dollars!” ejaculated Thad, and then he laughed; “but, of course, you’re joking, Hugh.  Still, it looks like a big sum to men who’ve seldom handled as much at a time; and I guess a confirmed tramp never does.  I hope, though, he didn’t steal that money.”

“What makes you say that, Thad?”

“Oh!  I don’t know, but it looked so nice and fresh and new.  Great Jupiter!  Hugh, you don’t think for a minute, do you, that it might have been a counterfeit bill?”

Hugh shook his head.

“Lots of things may turn out to be counterfeit, Thad, men as well as bank bills, but that one was perfectly good.  I could even see the colored threads of silk fiber that the Government uses in the paper to protect the currency.  So don’t let that bother you again.”