"I'm glad to hear you've left Pepper," said George Van Pelt, when he heard the news. "He's a bad fellow, and getting worse. If you want, you can get a room in the house next to where I live."
"What will they charge me?"
"You can get a small, but clean, hall bedroom for a dollar a week."
"That will just suit me," answered our hero.
The place was but three blocks away from the stand, and Nelson made the necessary arrangements that afternoon, during the time when trade was dull.
Nelson wondered what Pepper had meant by saying he had missed it in turning against the man. Did Pepper refer to the past, or did he have in mind what he could leave when he died?
"I don't want a cent of his money," our hero told himself; "but I would like to solve the mystery of my birth and parentage."