It may be thought that as Philip’s circumstances were no better, such an intimacy was natural enough.  But Philip Gray possessed special gifts, which made his company sought after.  He was a fine singer, and played with considerable skill on the violin—­an accomplishment derived from his father, who had acted as his teacher.  Then he was of a cheerful temperament, and this is a gift which usually renders the possessor popular, unless marred by positive defects or bad qualities.  There were two or three young snobs in the village who looked down upon Philip on account of his father’s poverty, but most were very glad to associate with our hero, and have him visit their homes.  He was courteous to all, but made—­no secret of his preference for Frank Dunbar.

When Philip parted from Frank, and entered the humble dwelling which had been his own and his father’s home for years, there was a sense of loneliness and desolation which came over him at first.

His father was the only relative whom he knew, and his death, therefore, left the boy peculiarly, alone in the world.  Everything reminded him of his dead father.  But he did not allow himself to dwell upon thoughts that would depress his spirits and unfit him for the work that lay before him.

He opened his father’s desk and began to examine his papers.  There was no will, for there was nothing to leave, but in one compartment of the desk was a thick wallet, which he opened.

In it, among some receipted bills, was an envelope, on which was written, in his father’s well-known hand: 

“The contents of this envelope are probably of no value, but it will be as well to preserve the certificate of stock.  There is a bare possibility that it may some day be worth a trifle.”

Philip opened the envelope and found a certificate for a hundred shares of the Excelsior Gold Mine, which appeared to be located in California.  He had once heard his father speak of it in much the same terms as above.

“I may as well keep it,” reflected Philip.  “It will probably amount to nothing, but there won’t be much trouble in carrying around the envelope.”  He also found a note of hand for a thousand dollars, signed by Thomas Graham.

Attached to it was a slip of paper, on which he read, also in his father’s writing: 

“This note represents a sum of money lent to Thomas Graham, when I was moderately prosperous.  It is now outlawed, and payment could not be enforced, even if Graham were alive and possessed the ability to pay.  Five years since, he left this part of the country for some foreign country, and is probably dead, and I have heard nothing from him in all that time.  It will do no harm, and probably no good, to keep his note.”

“I will keep it,” decided Philip.  “It seems that this and the mining shares are all that father had to leave me.  They will probably never yield me a cent, but I will keep them in remembrance of him.”