The widow started violently.
"Why, Ralph!" she exclaimed.
"Yes, mother. We may never know more than this. It is all a strange proceeding, but if that poor fellow out yonder could tell all he knows, I believe it would surprise and enlighten us very much, and in a way greatly for our benefit."
"Then we must wait with patience, and hope with courage," said Mrs. Fairbanks calmly.
Ralph felt all that he said. He could not get the letter out of his mind that evening.
They fitted up a little spare room off the dining room for their guest. He went quietly to bed when they led him there, after enjoying a good, supper, never speaking a word, never smiling, but with a pleased nod betokening that he appreciated every little kindness they showed him.
The next morning Ralph Fairbanks went to work at the roundhouse.
[CHAPTER XI--ON DUTY]
Ralph cut across lots on his way to the roundhouse. He was not one whit ashamed to be seen wearing a working cap and carrying a dinner pail and the bundle under his arm, but cap, pail and overalls were distressingly new and conspicuous, and he was something like a boy in his first Sunday suit and wondering if it fitted right, and how the public took it.
It was too early to meet any of his school friends, but crossing a street to take the tracks he was hailed volubly.