“I thought, sir, that it was sufficient for you to buy me one set. I carry mine.”
The Judge was touched by this mark of the boy’s thoughtfulness, and for a few minutes he said nothing. Then he turned round. “Buy another lot—have just what Titus has.”
Dallas gave him a peculiar glance. It certainly was not an ungrateful one.
The Judge gazed at him more steadfastly. How well the boy looked in his heavy black coat and dark fur cap! He was stouter, too, than when he came. Already good living and freedom from care were beginning to show a favorable influence upon him. But what about the soul? And the Judge peered more earnestly than ever at him. A good outside was a fine thing, but the inner things of the heart were what counted, and the elderly man made up his mind to ask a few questions. However, at first he learned all he could from the exterior.
The boy sat beside him very quietly, but his face was proud. “Now that I think of it,” reflected the Judge, “this is his first appearance in public with me. This doffing of hats and bowing from well dressed people flatters his boyish vanity.”
“Dallas,” he said, aloud, “would you like to be popular?”
“Yes, sir,” he replied, with a smile.
“And rich?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Do you believe that riches bring happiness?”