"I told you it would be no use, mother," said Mary.
"I couldn't stay at home contented, if I did nothing to find him, Mary."
"He'll turn up yet some day, mother,—return in rags most likely."
"Come when he may, or how he may, Mary, my arms shall be open to receive him."
But the years passed, and Ben did not come.
CHAPTER XIII.
THE FIRST CIGAR.
It was a week or more after Ben started in business as a baggage-smasher, that, in returning from carrying a carpet-bag to Lovejoy's Hotel, on Broadway, he fell in with his first city acquaintance, Jerry Collins. Jerry had just "polished up" a gentleman's boots, and, having been unusually lucky this morning in securing shines, felt disposed to be lavish.