The man who drove seemed to be consumed with a desire to learn something more about the other, for he began to ask questions.
“Did the old folks treat you white, Ralph?” was his first demand.
“If you mean Mr. and Mrs. West,” replied the other, quickly, “I can say yes, perhaps far better than I deserved, since I was none of their flesh and blood. I think I’ve always looked on them just as other boys do their own parents—up to lately, when money started to come to me every month from an unknown source, and then doubts began to awaken in my head, for I saw them talking together often as though trying to make up their minds to tell me something.”
“Money—how was that?” asked Smalling looking deeply interested.
“Why, along last summer I got a letter from the office of a New York lawyer. It had forty dollars in it, and just a couple of lines saying that I was to accept the gift with the idea of getting an education, and that the same amount would come every month.”
“Phew! Looks like something had touched his heart after all! Forty dollars, eh? And has it always come, Ralph?” asked the driver, keeping his eyes fixed upon the horses’ heads, as if unwilling to meet the boy’s questioning gaze.
“Yes, always. That was how I came to Columbia to attend the high school, for I was wild to get an education,” replied Ralph, soberly.
“Just so, and naturally, too. You come by that desire all right, I guess,” muttered Smalling, who seemed to be more or less embarrassed.
A strange thought came into Ralph’s mind. What could this confusion on the part of the other signify? He looked eagerly into the face of the little girl sitting beside him. Truth to tell, he was wondering if it could possibly be that Mary might turn out to be his sister!
And, as if something had told Smalling what was flitting through the brain of the boy, he turned his head and looked at him.