I overtook the boy in a short time and asked him to come and have a drink, and he said to me in his quaint French way: "'_Ce n'est pas de refus!_' (Too good to refuse.) "We went into a cafe, and I ordered something, I forget what, and we began to talk.

I told him I liked his face; I had had a friend once like him; and I wanted to know all about him.

I was in a hurry to meet you, but I had to make friends with him first.

He began by telling me all about his mother, Frank, yes, his mother." Oscar smiled here in spite of himself.
"But at last I got from him that he was always free on Thursdays, and he would be very glad to see me then, though he did not know what I could see in him to like.

I found out that the thing he desired most in the world was a bicycle; he talked of nickel-plated handle bars, and chains--and finally I told him it might be arranged.