He had an added inducement now in following our hero.

When Andy went into the bank, Fairfax followed him.  He was in the room when Andy received the dividends, and, with sparkling eyes, he saw that it was, a thick roll of bills, representing, no doubt, a considerable sum of money.

“That money must be mine,” he said to himself.  “It can’t be the boy’s.  He must have been sent by some other person.  The loss will get him into trouble.  Very likely he will be considered a thief.  That would just suit me.”

Andy was careful, however.  He put the money into a pocketbook, or, rather, wallet, with which he had been supplied by the Misses Grant, put it in his inside pocket, and then buttoned his coat up tight.  He was determined not to lose anything by carelessness.

But this was not his last business visit.  There was another bank in the same street where it was necessary for him to call and receive dividends.  Again Fairfax followed him, and again he saw Andy receive a considerable sum of money.

“There’s fat pickings here,” thought Fairfax.  “Now, I must manage, in some way, to relieve him of that money.  There’s altogether too much for a youngster like him.  Shouldn’t wonder if the money belonged to that man I tried to rob.  If so, all the better.”

In this conjecture, as we know, Fairfax was mistaken.  However, it made comparatively little difference to him whose money it was, as long as there was a chance of his getting it into his possession.  The fact was, that his finances were not in a very flourishing condition just at present.  He could have done better to follow some honest and respectable business, and avoid all the dishonest shifts and infractions of law to which he was compelled to resort, but he had started wrong, and it was difficult to persuade him that even now it would have been much better for him to amend his life and ways.  In this state of affairs he thought it a great piece of good luck that he should have fallen in with a boy in charge of a large sum of money, whom, from his youth and inexperience, he would have less trouble in robbing than an older person.

Andy had already decided how he would spend the afternoon.  He had heard a good deal about the Boston Museum, its large collection of curiosities, and the plays that were performed there.  One of the pleasantest anticipations he had was of a visit to this place, the paradise of country people.  Now that his business was concluded, he determined to go there at once.  But first he must inquire the way.

Turning around, he saw Fairfax without recognizing him.

“Can you direct me to the Boston Museum?” he asked.

“Certainly, with pleasure,” said Fairfax, with alacrity.  “In fact, I am going there myself.  I suppose you are going to the afternoon performance?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Have you ever been there?”

“No; but I have heard a good deal about it.  I don’t live in the city.”