"How mad Jasper will be when he hears of it!" said Thorne, laughing with malicious enjoyment. "I wish I could tell him."
"Don't breathe a word of it, Nicholas," said his mother, in evident alarm.
"Oh, I'll keep the secret. But it won't do any harm when it's all over, will it?"
"Say nothing till I authorize it."
"Well, I won't, then, if I can help it. But I say, mother, the old gentleman will come down handsomely when you're married. You ought to raise my allowance to two dollars a week."
"I will if I can afford it," said his mother. "But I must leave you now, Nicholas. I shall have about time to go to the station and meet the next train."
"Shan't I go with you?"
"I should like your company, my dear boy, but we must be prudent. We might meet Jasper Kent."
"That's so. Well, good-bye."
"Good-bye, Nicholas," and his mother pressed her lips upon the cheek of her son.