As he thought of Rose, it was with a feeling of satisfaction that she was so well provided for. He had the utmost confidence in Miss Manning, and he saw that a mutual affection had sprung up between her and his little sister.
"It'll be jolly when Rose grows up, and can keep house for me," he said to himself. "I hope I'll be in some good business then. Selling papers will do very well now, but I want to do something else after a while. I wonder whether that three hundred dollars I've got in the bank wouldn't set me up in some kind of business."
While these thoughts were passing through his mind, he still kept crying his papers, and presently he had sold the last one. It was still comparatively early, and he thought he would look about a little to see if there was no chance of earning a little extra money by running on an errand.
After a while he was commissioned to carry a message to Twenty-Second Street, for which he was to receive twenty-five cents, and his car fares.
"I'll walk back," he thought, "and in that way I'll save six cents out of the fares."
The walk being a long one, he was absent a considerable time, especially as he stopped for a while at an auction on Broadway. At last he reached his old stand, and was thinking of buying some evening papers, when he heard his name called in a tone of anxiety.
Turning suddenly, he recognized Miss Manning.
"Miss Manning!" he exclaimed, in surprise. "How do you happen to be here?"
"I came to see you, Rufus."
"Has anything happened?" he asked anxiously, seeing the troubled expression of her countenance. "Nothing is the matter with Rose, is there?"