“How much do you think they are worth, mother?”

“A lady to whom I showed them once said they must have cost five hundred dollars or more.”

Grant whistled.

“Do you mind showing them to me, mother?” he asked.

Mrs. Thornton went upstairs, and brought down the pearl necklace and bracelets.  They were very handsome and Grant gazed at them with admiration.

“I wonder what the ladies would say if you should wear them to the sewing circle,” he said, humorously.

“They would think I was going over to the vanities of this world,” responded his mother, smiling.  “They can be of no possible use to me now, or hereafter, and I believe it will be the best thing I can do to sell them.”

“Where can you sell them?  No one here can afford to buy them.”

“They must be sold in New York, and I must depend upon you to attend to the business for me.”

“Can you trust me, mother?  Wouldn’t father—­”

“Your father has no head for business, Grant.  He is a learned man, and knows a great deal about books, but of practical matters he knows very little.  You are only a boy, but you are a very sensible and trustworthy boy, and I shall have to depend upon you.”

“I will do the best I can, mother.  Only tell me what you want me to do.”

“I wish you to take these pearls, and go to New York.  You can find a purchaser there, if anywhere.  I suppose it will be best to take them to some jewelry store, and drive the best bargain you can.”

“When do you wish me to go, mother?”

“There can be no advantage in delay.  If tomorrow is pleasant, you may as well go then.”

“Shall you tell father your plan?”

“No, Grant, it might make him feel bad to think I was compelled to make a sacrifice, which, after all, is very little of a sacrifice to me.  Years since I decided to trouble him as little as possible with matters of business.  It could do no good, and, by making him anxious, unfitted him for his professional work.”

Mrs. Thornton’s course may not be considered wise by some, but she knew her husband’s peculiar mental constitution, and her object at least was praiseworthy, to screen him from undue anxiety, though it involved an extra share for herself.

The next morning Grant took an early breakfast, and walked briskly toward the depot to take the first train for New York.

The fare would be a dollar and a quarter each way, for the distance was fifty miles, and this both he and his mother felt to be a large outlay.  If, however, he succeeded in his errand it would be wisely spent, and this was their hope.

At the depot Grant found Tom Calder, a youth of eighteen, who had the reputation of being wild, and had been suspected of dishonesty.  He had been employed in the city, so that Grant was not surprised to meet him at the depot.

“Hello, Grant!  Where are you bound?” he asked.