it would not be worth while to redeem it at the old price and so i tore np the ticket richard you are a veiy wicked boy i know i m a bad lot aunt i was born so father says we are all born so till something happens � i don t quite know what it is i only know it hasn t happened to me this was another point in dick s favor the terrible manner as his aunt thought it of his bringing up the notions that had been into him from his childhood were an excuse for almost anything that was amiss in the lad there was nevertheless a certain in her tone very rarely found there as she replied if i were you richard i would not speak of religion of any kind when to have cheated a then once more this boy burst into laughter which it must be confessed was of a genuine sort not defiant nor cynical but a wholesome fit of merriment produced by the very source of fun � the sense of my dear aunt if you only knew old pledge � the old jew out of he charged me for that very as i have since found out for another fellow bought one exactly like it nearly twice its value because he knew i had the money in my pocket since he had just advanced it on the watch once � just once � out of a dozen transactions i have had with him i have got this little rise out of him and you talk of mr pledge you might just as well attempt to cheat the � why dear me anybody concluded master richard in some confusion because a person such as you describe has behaved ill to you richard is no reason why you should take an advantage of him advantage i wish i could think that had happened i ha e no doubt that even now he has made a good bargain though not so good as he imagined i am sure he has by the way in a watch maker � tv a ma i� a ta h � � � l which he grinned at me the next time � that is i mean the next time i met him and when of be had found it out so young gentlemen frequent shops as other boys at other schools go to the cook s no aunt but some of them have a taste for or like to buy it for their sisters dick had just avoided the and a quick turn of the tongue landed him on this firm domestic ground i dare say there are very few fellows who know he is a but somehow i found it out and when one wants a little money � and i m always wanting it aunt � s shop is a great convenience i wish to hear nothing more richard of such disgraceful doings said sister i will send to to morrow and get back the watch if it can t be made to go you shall have another like it oh aunt she held up her hand for silence i don t want your thanks richard if you are really grateful show it by about one thing i have made up my mind � you will return home to london is not a proper place for a boy who has no one to look after him and who has no good principles to keep him straight there shall be no gambling nor coming home at daylight while you are your grandmother s care let me stay till wednesday aunt pleaded dick with downcast eyes why he felt though he did not meet her gaze that aunt was looking him through and through well i had promised to meet a friend who is going to the crystal palace on tuesday with a relative your friend must be content with his relative well but suppose i don t choose to go said the lad you ve been very good to me i don t deny but i am not a child aunt no for you lack the innocence of childhood if you refuse to go i will tell your grandmother what time you came home this morning well that is mean for you gave me to understand you wouldn t that s what the governor would call the color rushed into sister s face as though he had struck it with his hand no i didn t mean that aunt exclaimed he eagerly of you could tell her about the watch and that hole would be quite deep enough for me let there be between us that s what we say at when we make up a quarrel i ll go home to if you wish it only how are you going to explain it to the � i will get your grandmother to do that and if possible without getting you into trouble but of course i must tell her something don t say anything about old and the said dick of course not there would however have been no harm in giving a present to your s child if you had bought it with your own pocket money though the gift you chose was is this mr pledge es yes at least i suppose so he l la i � a� s v w less black than we re painted your watch is you can tell her with truth that it is at the watch maker s by jove aunt what a you are to get a fellow oat of a scrape i wish i could get you out of the faults that lead to the so the interview had ended aunt proved as good as her word and contrived to explain her nephew s sudden departure to lady he called it his grandmother without getting him into trouble with her she even 