Nelson The Newsboy

Gertrude was looking into the show window of a store, admiring some pretty pictures, when she felt a tap on her shoulder, and turning, found herself face to face with Homer Bulson.

"Gertrude!" exclaimed the young man. "I have been looking high and low for you! Where have you been keeping yourself?"

"That is my business, Mr. Bulson," she answered stiffly.

"Why, Gertrude, you are not going to be angry at me, are you?"

"Why shouldn't I be angry? Haven't you made enough trouble for me?"

"I haven't made any trouble—you made that yourself," he answered, somewhat ruffled by her tone.

"I do not think so."

"Uncle Mark is very much upset over your disappearance."

"Does he wish me to come back?" she questioned eagerly.

"No, I can't say that," answered Homer Bulson smoothly. "But he doesn't want you to suffer. He said, if I saw you, I should give you some money."

"Thank you, but I can take care of myself."

"Have you money?"

"I can take care of myself; that is enough."

"Why don't you let me take care of you, Gertrude?"

"Because I do not like you, Mr. Bulson. How is Uncle Mark to-day?"

"About as usual. You must have upset him very much. Of course I don't believe you took any money out of his safe," went on Bulson. "I guess the guilty party was that young rascal who called on you."

"Nelson is no rascal. He is an honest boy."

"Nelson!" ejaculated the young man. "Is his name Nelson?"

"Yes. You act as if you had met him."

"I—er—no—but I have—have heard of him," stammered the young man.

"He called on you once, I believe, with somebody who sold you some books."

"I don't remember that. But he must be the thief."

"I tell you Nelson is no thief."

"Thank you for that, Miss Gertrude," came from behind the pair, and our hero stepped up. "Mr. Bulson, you haven't any right to call me a thief," he went on, confronting the fashionable young man.

"Go away, boy; I want nothing to do with you," answered Bulson. Nevertheless, he looked curiously at our hero.

"I am no thief, but you are pretty close to being one," went on Nelson.

"Me!"

"Yes, you. You tried to swindle a friend of mine out of the sale of some books you had ordered from him. I call that downright mean."

"Boy, don't dare to talk to me in this fashion!" stormed the young man. "If you do, I'll—I'll hand you over to the police."

"No, you won't. You just leave me alone and I'll leave you alone," answered the newsboy. "And you leave Miss Gertrude alone, too," he added warmly.

"Gertrude, have you taken up with this common fellow?" asked Bulson.

"Nelson has been my friend," answered the girl. "He has a heart of gold."

"I can't agree with you. He is but a common boy of the streets, and–"

Homer Bulson went no further, for Nelson came closer and clenched his fists.

"Stop, or I'll make you take it back, big as you are," said the boy.

"Then you won't accept my protection?" said Bulson, turning his back on our hero.

"No. If Uncle Mark wishes to write to me he can address me in care of the General Post Office," answered Gertrude.

"All right; then I'll bid you good-day," said Homer Bulson, and tipping his silk hat, he hurried on and was soon lost to sight on the crowded thoroughfare.

"I hate that man!" murmured Nelson, when he had disappeared.

"I both hate and fear him," answered Gertrude. "I am afraid he intends to cause me a great deal of trouble."

CHAPTER XV.

BUYING OUT A NEWS STAND

After the above incident several weeks slipped by without anything out of the ordinary happening.

In the meantime Sam Pepper's place was thoroughly remodeled and became a leading café on the East Side—a resort for many characters whose careers would not stand investigation. The man seemed wrapped up in his business, but his head was busy with schemes of far greater importance.

He had said but little to Nelson, who spent a good part of his time at Mrs. Kennedy's rooms with Gertrude. Sam had found the letters and put them in a safe place without a word, and the boy had not dared to question him about them. Nor had Pepper questioned Nelson concerning what the lad knew or suspected.

The results of Gertrude's advertising were not as gratifying as anticipated; still the girl obtained seven pupils, which brought her in three dollars and a half weekly. Most of the lessons had to be given on Saturdays, when her pupils were home from school, and this made it necessary that she ride from house to house, so that thirty-five cents of the money went for carfare.

"Never mind," said the newsboy; "it's better than nothing, and you'll get more pupils, sooner or later."

The boy himself worked as never before, getting up before sunrise and keeping at it with "sporting extras" until almost midnight. In this manner he managed to earn sometimes as high as ten dollars per week. He no longer helped Pepper around his resort, and the pair compromised on three dollars per week board money from Nelson. The rest of the money our hero either saved or offered to Gertrude. All he spent on himself was for the suit, shoes, and hat he had had so long in his mind.

"I declare, you look like another person!" cried the girl, when he presented himself in his new outfit, and with his hair neatly trimmed, and his face and hands thoroughly scrubbed. "Nelson, I am proud of you!" And she said this so heartily that he blushed furiously. Her gentle influence was beginning to have its effect, and our hero was resolved to make a man of himself in the best meaning of that term.

One day Nelson was at work, when George Van Pelt came along.