"I've got three dollars, Oliver," said Carrie eagerly. "You'll take that, too, won't you?"
Oliver was moved by these offers.
"You are true friends, both of you," he said; "but I have been lucky, and I shall not need to accept your kindness just yet. I have nearly a hundred dollars in my pocket-book, and Mr. Bundy is paying me ten dollars a week for going around with him. But, though I don't need it, I thank you all the same."
"He looks rough," said Carrie, stealing a look at the tall, slouching figure walking beside her father; "but if he is kind, I shall like him."
"He has done more than I have yet told you. He has promised to provide for me as long as I will stay with him."
"He's a good man," said Carrie impulsively. "I'm going to thank him."
She went up to Nicholas Bundy and took his rough hand in hers.
"Mr. Bundy," she said, "Oliver tells me you have been very kind to him. I want to thank you for it."
"My little lady," said Nicholas, surprised and pleased, "if I'd been kind, that would pay me; but I've only been kind to myself. I'm alone in the world. I've got no wife nor child, nor a single relation, but I've got enough to keep two on, and as long as Oliver will stay with me he shall want for nothing. He's company to me, and that's what I need."
"I wish you were his step-father instead of Mr. Kenyon."