'Oh, Dickie, no; not a whole fortune, I'm too little,' cried Kitty, overwhelmed.
'Yes, a whole fortune,' he persisted grandly; 'an' maybe I'll marry you.'
'Will you, Dickie, will you? Oh, that is kind!'
'Here.' He had turned over the treasures in his pocket and found a scrap of gilt filagree off a gorgeous valentine. 'Here's somethin'.'
Kitty thought the gift very beautiful, and accepted it thankfully for its own sake and the sake of the giver, as an earnest of the fortune to come; and went her way happy but duly impressed with a sense of the responsibilities those riches must impose.
Harry Hardy had loitered behind his mates on the flat, and when the boy caught up to him again he turned to him with nervous anxiety.
'What did that girl want with you, Dick?' he asked. I heard her mention
Miss Shine's name.'
He noted the set, stubborn look with which he was now familiar fall upon the boy's face like a mask, and he questioned no more on that point.
'Dick;' he said earnestly, 'you'll help her if you can. She's all alone, you know; not a soul to stand by her, not a soul. You might get a chance sometimes to make things easier for her. Would you?'
'My word! 'said Dick simply.