"The material will cost from ten to twenty dollars. I could make them up myself."
"All right, mother. Here are twenty dollars."
"But, Mark, can you spare that amount? Our rent comes due next week."
"It is the last rent we shall pay here. We will move to better quarters."
"Really, Mark, I am afraid you are forgetting your prudence."
"That is because you don't know how rich I am, mother. I have a thousand dollars on deposit with my banker, or rather nine hundred and fifty, for I drew fifty dollars this morning."
Mrs. Mason surveyed her son with alarm. A terrible suspicion entered her mind. Was he becoming mentally unbalanced? Mark understood her thoughts and was amused.
"Don't think I am crazy, mother," he said. "The fact is, Mr. Rockwell made me a present of a thousand dollars this morning."
"Is this really true? You are not joking?"
"I was never more serious in my life. He told me that I had saved his life, and he didn't think he was overpaying me in giving me a thousand dollars."