Book Description

"WELL, I've done it, and if there should be a row, you girls must help me to get out of it with the Mater." The speaker was a tall, well-grown lad about fifteen. His two sisters might have been a year older and a year younger, judging by their looks. They were both sewing, but dropped their work as the lad seated himself at the opposite side of the table. "Oh, Arthur! What have you been doing now?" asked the elder sister, with something like a sigh. "What's this latest scrape, you bad boy?" said the other, shaking her head and yet looking affectionately at her brother. "Humph! Bad boy!" repeated Arthur. "That has to be proved, Miss Molly." "Well, tell us what you have done, that we may judge," she said. "I hope you have not forgotten that Mamma has already as much trouble as she can bear," said the elder sister gravely. "That's just it, Annie," said the lad in a changed tone. "I know that Papa's death has changed everything for all of us, and that a lad like me ought to be doing something to help." "Well, of course that was settled, dear, and we are only waiting—" "For something to turn up, like Mr. Micawber," interrupted her brother. "No, Arthur, it isn't exactly like that," said Molly quickly, "for old Mr. Best is looking out for you, besides some other friends." "Yes! He has been looking out for the past six months; but as nobody has been to him to ask if he can get them a boy, why, of course, he hasn't heard of anything that will suit me; and so I've suited myself without troubling him." "Oh, Arthur! We cannot afford to offend old friends like that," protested his elder sister. "Tell us what you have done, and don't beat about the bush any longer," said Molly impatiently. "Well, I've got a place, a situation, an appointment, anything you like to call it, at a shop in the town." "At a shop!" almost gasped his elder sister, while Molly sat with half-opened mouth, looking at Arthur in silence for a minute. At last she managed to say, "What shop is it?" "Oh! A fal-lal shop and a tailor's shop, where they sell everything from a reel of cotton to a steam-engine." "Oh! And are you going to be among your beloved steam-engines after all?" said Molly, in a tone of relief. "Oh, no! Reels of cotton will be more likely, I expect," said her brother, trying to speak defiantly, but failing in the attempt. "Now, just tell us straight out what you have done?" said Molly. "Well, I am going as cashier to the Grand Emporium in London Road." "Arthur, Mamma won't like that!" said the elder sister. "I can't help it, Annie; there seems nothing else to be had. I have waited six months for Mr. Best and the others to stir themselves, and I can't wait any longer." "But Mamma said a year longer at school would not hurt you," put in Molly eagerly. "Hurt me! Of course it wouldn't hurt me," said Arthur, "and I've swatted as hard as any fellow since I've known about things. But the fact is, we can't afford it. You two and Mamma are doing everything to save money, why should I be the only one who is not to put his shoulder to the wheel and make things move up a bit?" "But a shop, Arthur! What will people say when they hear that one of the Murrays has come down to a shop?" said Molly in a deprecating tone. "Not much more than they say about us coming to live in a cottage with one servant, and a shoe-boy to keep the garden tidy. Oh, don't you make any mistake about it! Everybody has heard that we hardly know how to make ends meet, and so I may as well go and earn ten shillings a week to help as go to school and do the same sort of sums, for which Mamma has to pay money she can ill afford. I don't believe the bill for my last term has been paid yet," broke off Arthur, looking keenly at his sister as he spoke. "But it will be paid some day, and it can't make much difference to Dr. Robinson whether you are there or not." "Dr. Robinson makes his living by keeping school, of course, and so it is little better than robbing him for me to keep on with my classes there when I know that we cannot afford to pay the fees. Don't you see that, Tabby?" he added, seeing that his little sister looked hurt. "Has Dr. Robinson been saying anything about this to you?" said Annie quickly. "Humph! Dr. Robinson is a gentleman," replied Arthur. "Now let me tell you what I have done to-day. You know, young Brading is one of the fellows in my class, and he is not a bad sort either, though his father does keep a shop. We two have been pretty chummy ever since he first came, for I liked Jack, and I didn't care whether his father kept a shop or a bank. I don't see where the difference comes in."