"I would be pleased to have you come in, señor."
"Oh, I don't know. I'm not dressed for calling. But then, as we room near each other, I presume you'll see me often in my working clothes."
He entered the room and lowered himself upon the chair that Felipe placed. The boy sat on the bed.
"Did I understand you to say, señor, that you have the next room?"
"Eh? A little louder, please."
Jalisco repeated the question.
"Yes, yes," answered the old man. "I have just taken it. Had to pay a week in advance, and it happens that it took all my money, therefore I'm unable to purchase a needle and thread. But," he quickly added, "in a very few days, when the law gives me my rights, I shall have money enough to purchase all the needles and all the thread in this city without realizing that I have spent anything at all."
"Then you expect to come into an inheritance, señor?" questioned the boy loudly.
"Not just that," was the answer. "I shall obtain my rights. I shall be given a just reward for the invention that was stolen from me and has made other men rich."
Between the old man and the boy there seemed to be a bond of sympathy which the latter felt.