"Oh, I don't know. We didn't wait to see. Hal was anxious to get out of the crowd and we were late home anyway. So Harling gave the kid to the nursemaid and lit out."
There was a muffled: "I see!" from his listener.
"And where do you come in in all this tangle?" queried the stranger presently.
"I? Why, you see Hal Harling is my——" a sudden reserve fell upon the lad. It was impossible to explain to anybody just what Hal Harling was to him. "I chase round with the Harlings a lot," explained he. "They are almost like my own family."
"Oh, so that's it!"
"I'd decided just now to hunt for a job and see if I couldn't make good the money Louise is missing. She can't seem to find a darn thing to do, poor kid. She's been out of work over a week now and they've got to have money or Mrs. Harling and Grandfather Harling will starve to death. Of course I'm not so much," continued Carl modestly. "But I'm willing to work and I'm sure I could earn something."
The owner of the velvet-wheeled car did not speak at once. Then he remarked abruptly:
"You don't go to school to-morrow, do you?"
"Saturday? Not on your—no, sir."
"Then you'd be free to come to my office to-morrow morning and see me, wouldn't you?"