CONTENTS

CHAPTERPAGE
I.The Wicked Giant[1]
II.Pride and Penalty[10]
III.A Feast and an Excursion[17]
IV.The Four Millionaires[24]
V.New Friends[36]
VI.The Dearest Wish[52]
VII.A Serious Step[60]
VIII.More Treasures[68]
IX.One-Eye[79]
X.The Surprise[93]
XI.The Discovery[108]
XII.A Prodigal Puffed Up[117]
XIII.Changes[122]
XIV.The Heaven that Nearly Happened[138]
XV.Scouts[144]
XVI.Hope Deferred[153]
XVII.Mr. Perkins[160]
XVIII.The Roof[172]
XIX.A Different Cis[183]
XX.The Handbook[190]
XXI.The Meeting[201]
XXII.Cis Tells a Secret[212]
XXIII.Roses that Tattled[219]
XXIV.Father Pat[233]
XXV.An Ally Crosses a Sword[241]
XXVI.The End of a Long Day[247]
XXVII.Another Gift[255]
XXVIII.Another Story[275]
XXIX.Revolt[290]
XXX.Disaster[300]
XXXI.The Vision[318]
XXXII.Help[330]
XXXIII.One-Eye Fights[345]
XXXIV.Sir Algernon[357]
XXXV.Good-bys[363]
XXXVI.Left Behind[373]
XXXVII.Ups and Downs[379]
XXXVIII.Another Good-by[391]
XXXIX.The Letter[400]
XL."The True Way"[407]

THE RICH LITTLE POOR BOY
ELEANOR GATES

CHAPTER I

THE WICKED GIANT

HE was ten. But his clothes were forty. And it was this difference in the matter of age, and, consequently, in the matter of size, that explained why, at first sight, he did not show how thin-bodied he was, but seemed, instead, to be rather a stout little boy. For his faded, old shirt, with its wide sleeves lopped off just above his elbows, and his patched trousers, shortened by the scissors to knee length, were both many times too large for him, so that they lay upon him, front, back and sides, in great, overlapping pleats that were, in turn, bunched into heavy tucks; and his kitchen apron, worn with the waistband about his neck, the strings being tied at the back, also lent him—if viewed from the front—an appearance both of width and weight.