"I might find a place for you in the store. We wouldn't like to have you go away."
"Thank you, Joe. You are very kind. But there's no chance for me around here. I'll take the money, and go somewhere. But first I must see Uncle Peter buried. Will you help me?"
"To be sure we will. Was he your only relation?"
"He was not my relation at all."
"Why, you have always called him uncle."
"I supposed him to be my uncle, but yesterday he told me that he was only a servant in my father's family, and that on my father's death he was placed in charge of me."
"I reckon that's so. You didn't favor the old man at all. You look as if you came from better stock."
"All the same I shall miss him," said Ernest sadly. "He was a good friend to me, Peter was."
"Did he tell you whether you had any kin?"
"Yes; I have a cousin of my father's living in New York State. He is a rich man. He inherited the property that ought to have gone to my father."