"Is Jim here?" Theodore asked when Mrs. Hunt opened the door in
response to his knock.
"Yes--what's wanted, Tode?" Jimmy answered for himself before his
mother could reply.
"Can you stay out o' school to-morrow?" Theo questioned.
"No, he can't, an' you needn't be temptin' him," broke in the mother,
quickly.
"Oh, come now, ma, wait till ye hear what he wants," remonstrated
Jimmy, in whose eyes Theo was just about right.
"I wanted him to run my stand to-morrow," said Theodore. "I've got
somethin' else to 'tend to. There's plenty o' fellers that would like
to run it for me, but ye see I can't trust 'em an' I _can_ trust
Jim every time."
Jimmy drew himself up proudly. "Oh, ma, do let me stay out an' do it,"
he cried, eagerly.
"It's Friday, an' we don't have much to do Fridays anyhow, in our
school."
"We-ell, I s'pose then you might stay out just this once," Mrs. Hunt
said, slowly, being fully alive to the advantages to Jimmy of such a
friendly feeling on Theo's part. She recognized Theodore's business
ability, and would have been only too glad to see her own boy develop
something of the same kind. She was haunted with a dread that he might
become idle and vicious as Dick had done.
"All right, then," Theodore responded, promptly. "You be ready to go
down with me at seven o'clock, Jim, an' I'll see you started all right
before I leave you.
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