Nelson The Newsboy

"Hullo, Gladys! you here?" he said.

"Oh, Nelson! I thought it was Gertrude," answered the flower girl. "Did you bring her along?"

"Along? I haven't seen her."

"She went over to Sam Pepper's place to bring you here. Mrs. Kennedy is very sick, and we didn't know what to do."

"I haven't been to Sam's place. I left there yesterday for good. What's the matter with the old lady?"

"Her rheumatism has got up around her heart, and she's very bad. I think she ought to have a doctor."

"She shall have one, Gladys. Was Gertrude going to get one?"

"No, she was going to get you to do that. She doesn't know anything of doctors down here, so she said."

"I'll have one here in a little while," said our hero, and ran down the stairs, two steps at a time.

Two blocks below the house there was a drug store, and a doctor had his office upstairs. The physician was in, and listened to what Nelson had to say.

"I'll go," he said. "But you know my terms to strangers."

"How much will the visit be?"

"A dollar."

"There's your money." And our hero handed it over.

The pair were soon at Mrs. Kennedy's bedside, and after an examination the doctor wrote out a prescription and Nelson had it filled at the drug store. The physician said he would call again the following afternoon.

"She's in a bad state," he said. "She has likely had this rheumatism for years, and her age is against her."

"Don't you think she'll get over it?" asked our hero.

"I think she will. But she may be helpless for many weeks."

"It's hard luck. She hasn't any money."

"Then you had better send her to the hospital."

"No, she shall stay home, if she wants to," said Nelson. "I guess I and the rest can take care of her. She was always good to me and the others."

After the medicine had been administered and Mrs. Kennedy was a trifle easier, Nelson began to grow impatient that Gertrude had not yet returned.

"I guess I'll go out and hunt her up," he said to Gladys Summers. "Will you stay here?"

"Yes; I promised to stay all night, Nelson."

Our hero was soon in the street again and making his way rapidly over to the East Side in the direction of Sam Pepper's resort. It was now late, but this part of the city was still bustling with life. Yet to our hero's surprise, when he reached Pepper's place he found it locked up.

"Closed!" he muttered. "This is queer. I wonder where Gertrude went?"

He stood for a moment on the pavement, then went and rapped loudly on the glass of the door.

For a minute there was no response, then, as he rapped again, Sam Pepper appeared. His face fell when he lifted a door shade and saw our hero.

"What do you want now?" he growled, as he opened the door for a space of several inches.

"Was that young lady over here to find me?" asked our hero.

"Nobody here to see you," answered Sam Pepper gruffly.

"She wasn't? Why, she started for here."

"I haven't seen anybody. Is that all you want?"

"Yes. Why are you shut up so early?"

"I didn't feel very well and thought I'd go to bed and sleep it off," answered Pepper smoothly. "I'm going back again. Good-night!"

"Then you haven't seen her at all?" persisted the newsboy.

"Haven't I told you so before? Now, don't disturb me again." And with this Sam Pepper slammed the door shut and locked it.

Nelson was nonplused, not so much by what Pepper had said as by the man's manner.

"He wanted to get rid of me in a hurry," he mused. "Somehow, this affair doesn't look right to me."

While our hero was standing near the curb, speculating upon where next to look for Gertrude, he was surprised to see Paul Randall come down the street.

"Why, Paul, how is it you are out so late?" he asked.

"Got stuck on some sporting extras and was bound to sell 'em," answered Paul. "Say, I hear you've bought out a stand."

"George Van Pelt and I have bought out a stand."

"Hope you make lots of money. If you need a clerk, don't forget me."

"I won't forget you, Paul. We have a boy now who delivers papers for us. He talks of leaving. If he does, I'll let you know. But, I say, have you been around here long?"

"Most all the evening."

"You know that young lady who is stopping with Mrs. Kennedy, don't you?"

"Yes. Gladys Summers calls her 'the angel,'" answered Paul readily. "She's a real lady, aint she, Nelson?"

"She is."

"I saw her go into Pepper's an hour or two ago."