“I should think a boy with your income would be more particular about his neckties,” said Sam.

“What’s the matter with my neckties, Sam?  Are they not neat?”

“Yes; but they are plain, such as a Quaker might wear.  Why don’t you get a showy tie, like mine?”

Andy smiled as he noticed the gorgeous tie which his friend wore.

“I don’t like to be showy,” he said.

“You’ll never attract the attention of the girls with such a plain tie as you wear.  Now, when I walked on Fifth Avenue last Sunday afternoon, as many as twenty girls looked admiringly at my tie.”

“That would make me feel bashful, Sam.”

“Let me bring you one from the store like mine.  You shall have it at the wholesale price.”

“No; I think not.  It wouldn’t be as becoming to me as to you.  I don’t want to be considered a dude.”

“I don’t mind it.  Next week I’m going to buy a pair of patent leathers.  They will be really economical, as I shall not have to spend money on shines.”

One Saturday afternoon, when Andy was walking through one of the quiet streets west of Bleecker, his attention was drawn to a small boy, apparently about eleven years old, who was quietly crying as he walked along the sidewalk.  He had never seen the boy before that he could remember, yet his face wore a familiar expression.

CHAPTER XXV.

SQUIRE CARTER’S RELATIVES.

Andy was kind-hearted, and the boy’s evident sorrow appealed to him.  He went forward and placed his hand on the boy’s shoulder.

“What is the matter?” he asked.

“I went to the baker’s to buy some bread for mother, and the baker tells me that the quarter is a bad one.”

“Let me look at it.”

The coin had a dull appearance and a greasy feeling.  It was unquestionably counterfeit.

“Yes, it is bad,” said Andy.  “Is your mother poor?”

“Very poor,” answered the boy.  “This quarter was all the money she had, and now we shall have no supper.”

“Whom do you mean by ’we’?”

“My little brother and myself.”

Andy intended at first simply to give the boy a good coin for the bad one, but he saw that there was a call for something more.

“Do you live near here?” he asked.

“Yes, sir; just across the street.”

“I will go back with you to the baker’s, and then I will go with you to see your mother.  Perhaps I can help her.”

The boy put his hand confidingly in Andy’s, and the two went a little distance to the baker’s.

“Now make your purchases,” said Andy.

“If you have brought back that bad quarter I won’t take it,” announced the baker, sharply.

“I will pay you,” said Andy, quietly.

“Then it’s all right.  The boy brought me a very bad quarter.  I have to look sharp, for a good many bad coins are offered me.”