"Just here," answered Mike, indicating a place on the sidewalk.
"I suppose there is a good deal of money in it?" said Mike, with pardonable curiosity.
"Then you didn"t open it?"
"No, ma"am, I didn"t have a chance. I just found it."
"There may be forty or fifty dollars, but it isn"t on that account I should have regretted losing it. It contained a receipt for a thousand dollars which I am to use in a law suit. That is very important for it will defeat a dishonest claim for money that I have already paid."
"Then I"m glad I found it."
"You are an honest boy. You seem to be a poor boy also."
"That"s true, ma"am. If I was rich I wouldn"t black boots for a livin"."
"Dear me, you are one of the young street Arabs I"ve read about," and the lady looked curiously at Mike through her gla.s.ses.
"I expect I am."
"And I suppose you haven"t much money."
"My bank account is very low, ma"am."
"I"ve read a book about a boy named "Ragged d.i.c.k." I think he was a bootblack, too. Do you know him?"
"He"s my cousin, ma"am," answered Mike promptly.
It will be observed that I don"t represent Mike as possessed of all the virtues.
"Dear me, how interesting. I bought the book for my little nephew. Now I can tell him I have seen "Ragged d.i.c.k"s" cousin. Where is d.i.c.k now?"
"He"s reformed, ma"am."
"Reformed?"
"Yes, from blackin" boots. He"s in better business now."
"If I should give you some of the money in this pocketbook, you wouldn"t spend it on drinking and gambling, would you?"
"No, ma"am. I"d reform like my cousin, Ragged d.i.c.k."
"You look like a good truthful boy. Here are ten dollars for you."
"Oh, thank you, ma"am! you"re a gentleman," said Mike overjoyed. "No, I don"t mean that but I hope you"ll soon get a handsome husband."
"My young friend, I don"t care to marry, though I appreciate your good wishes. I am an old maid from principle. I am an officer of the Female Suffrage a.s.sociation."
"Is it a good payin" office, ma"am?" asked Mike, visibly impressed.
"No, but it is a position of responsibility. Please tell me your name that I may make a note of it."
"My name is Michael Flynn."
"I see. You are of Celtic extraction."
"I don"t know, ma"am. I never heard that I was. It isn"t anything bad, is it?"
"Not at all. I have some Celtic blood in my own veins. If you ever come to Boston you can inquire for Miss Pauline Peabody."
"Thank you, ma"am," said Mike, who thought the lady rather a "queer lot."
"Now I must call upon my lawyer, and leave the receipt which I came so near losing."
"Well, I"m in luck," thought Mike. "I"ll go home and dress up, and apply for a position as telegraph boy."
When Rodney came home at supper time he found Mike, dressed in his Sunday suit.
"What"s up now, Mike?" he asked. "Have you retired from business?"
"Yes, from the bootblack business. Tomorrow I shall be a telegraph boy."
"That is good. You haven"t saved up ten dollars, have you?"
"I saved up two, and a lady gave me ten dollars for findin" her pocketbook."
"That"s fine, Mike."
There chanced to be a special demand for telegraph boys at that time, and Mike, who was a sharp lad, on pa.s.sing the necessary examination, was at once set to work.
He was immensely fond of his blue uniform when he first put it on, and felt that he had risen in the social scale. True, his earnings did not average as much, but he was content with smaller pay, since the duties were more agreeable.
In the evenings under Rodney"s instruction he devoted an hour and sometimes two to the task of making up the deficiencies in his early education. These were extensive, but Mike was naturally a smart boy, and after a while began to improve rapidly.
So three months pa.s.sed. Rodney stood well in with Mr. Goodnow, and was promoted to stock clerk. The discipline which he had revived as a student stood him in good stead, and enabled him to make more rapid advancement than some who had been longer in the employ of the firm. In particular he was promoted over the head of Jasper Redwood, a boy two years older than himself, who was the nephew of an old employee who had been for fifteen years in the house.
Jasper"s jealousy was aroused, and he conceived a great dislike for Rodney, of which Rodney was only partially aware.
For this dislike there was really no cause. Rodney stood in his way only because Jasper neglected his duties, and failed to inspire confidence.
He was a boy who liked to spend money and found his salary insufficient, though he lived with his uncle and paid but two dollars a week for his board.
"Uncle James," he said one day, "when do you think I will get a raise?"
"You might get one now if it were not for the new boy."
"You mean Ropes."
"Yes, he has just been promoted to a place which I hoped to get for you."
"It is mean," grumbled Jasper. "I have been here longer than he."