"
"But are those all the directions you are going to give me?" inquired
Lionel, with a doubtful glance.
"They are sufficient," replied the beggar. "You 'll find them
sufficient;" and before Lionel could say another word the beggar had
vanished from before his very eyes. He had not slipped away, nor slunk
away, nor walked away, nor sped away,--he had simply vanished; and
Lionel was left alone behind the grated door of the area-way gazing out
upon a vacant space of pavement where, an instant before, the beggar
had stood. The little boy rubbed his eyes and looked again. No, the
beggar was gone, in very truth, and had left not so much as a rag
behind him. But, look! what was that? Something lay upon the stone
step just outside the gate, and it gleamed brightly from out its dusky
corner. Lionel reached up and unlatched the heavy fastening. The
great gate swung slowly in, and Lionel stepped briskly out. He bent
down and grasped the shining object; it proved to be a little rule, and
it was made of solid gold. He clasped it to his bosom.
"How beautiful!" he murmured. "Now I can measure things and carve them
with my jack-knife, and they 'll be just exactly right. Before they
have n't been quite straight, and when I 'd try to put the parts
together they wouldn't fit; but now--"
And then suddenly the thought flashed across his mind: "Perhaps it
belongs to the beggar and he might want it;" and without a moment's
thought to his bare head, he passed quickly through the gateway and out
into the street.
Pages:
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75