"
"Could he do what he wanted to with the dollar?"
"Of course he could. I never checked him, no matter how extravagant
he was, an' yet I've seen him spend his whole week's wages at this
very stand in one afternoon. And even after his money had all gone
that way, I've paid for peppermint and ginger out of my own pocket
just to cure his stomach ache."
Toby shook his head mournfully, as if deploring that depravity which
could cause a boy to run away from such a tender hearted employer
and from such a desirable position. But even as he shook his head
so sadly he looked wistfully at the peanuts, and Mr. Lord observed
the look.
It may have been that Mr. Job Lord was the tender hearted man he
prided himself upon being, or it may have been that he wished to
purchase Toby's sympathy; but, at all events, he gave him a large
handful of nuts, and Toby never bothered his little round head as
to what motive prompted the gift. Now he could listen to the story
of the boy's treachery and eat at the same time; therefore he was
an attentive listener.
"All in the world that boy had to do," continued Mr. Lord, in the
same injured tone he had previously used, "was to help me set things
to rights when we struck a town in the morning, and then tend to
the counter till we left the town at night, and all the rest of
the time he had to himself. Yet that boy was ungrateful enough to
run away.
Pages:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25