as you please;
but it's honest to try, I'm thinking, for some poor girl may have lost
her earnin's this way, and we wouldn't like that ourselves,' said Mrs.
Quinn, turning over the shabby pocket-book, and carefully searching for
some clue to its owner.

Nanny looked very sober, and Jack grabbed up the money as if it were too
precious to lose. But he wasn't comfortable about it; and after a hard
fight with himself he consented to let Mrs. Quinn ask their policeman
what they should do. He was a kindly man; and when he heard the story,
said he'd do what was right, and if he couldn't find an owner, Jack
should have the fifty dollars back.

How hard it was to wait! how Jack thought and dreamed of his money, day
and night! How Nanny ran to the door to listen when a heavy step came up
the stairs! and how wistfully the poor darkened eyes turned to the light
which they longed to see again.

Honest John Floyd did his duty, but he didn't find the owner; so the old
purse came back at last, and now Jack could keep it with a clear
conscience. Nanny was asleep when it happened; and as they sat counting
the dingy bills, Mrs. Quinn said to the boy, 'Jack, you'd better keep
this for yourself. I doubt if it's enough to do the child any good; and
you need clothes and shoes, and a heap of things, let alone the books
you hanker after so much. It ain't likely you'll ever find another
wallet. It's all luck about Nanny's eyes; and maybe you are only
throwing away a chance you'll never have again.'

Jack leaned his head on his arms and stared at the money, all spread out
there, and looking so magnificent to him that it seemed as if it could
buy half the world. He did need clothes; his hearty boy's appetite did
long for better food; and, oh! how splendid it would be to go and buy
the books he had wanted so long,--the books that would give him a taste
of the knowledge which was more enticing to his wide-awake young mind
than clothes and food to his poor little body. It wasn't an easy thing
to do; but he was so used to making small sacrifices that the great one
was less hard; and when he had brooded over the money a few minutes in
thoughtful silence, his eye went from the precious bits of paper to the
dear little face in the trundle-bed, and he said, with a decided nod,
'I'll give Nanny the chance, and work for my things, or go without 'em.'

Mrs. Quinn was a matter-of-fact body; but her hard old face softened
when he said that, and she kissed