, and seeing Jimmy's
sober face clear suddenly as if the sun had burst forth with great
brilliancy.

"Really? How much? Can I sing well enough?" and he clutched her arm
excitedly, for this unexpected ray of hope dazzled him.

"Some of them will have ten dollars a week, and some more,--the real
nice ones, like Lee, the singing boy, who is a wonder," answered Will,
in the tone of one well informed on such points.

"Ten dollars!" gasped Jimmy, for the immensity of the sum took his
breath away. "Could _I_ get that? How long? Where do we go? Do they
really want us fellows? Are you sure it's all true?"

"It was all in the paper, and Miss Pym, the teacher who boards at our
house, told Ma about it. The folks advertised for school-children, sixty
of 'em, and will really pay; and Ma said I could go and try, and all
the money I get I'm going to put in a bank and have for my own. Don't
you believe me now?"

Miss Pym and the newspapers settled the matter in Jimmy's mind, and made
him more anxious than before about the other point.

"Do you think _I_ would have any chance?" he asked, still holding Will,
who seemed inclined for another dance.

"I know you would. Don't you do splendidly at school? And didn't they
want you for a choir boy, only your mother couldn't spare you?" answered
Will, decidedly; for Jimmy did love music, and had a sweet little pipe
of his own, as she well knew.

"Mother will have to spare me now, if they pay like that. I can work all
day and do without sleep to earn money this way. Oh, Will, I'm so glad
you came, for I was just ready to run away to sea. There didn't seem
anything else to do," whispered Jimmy in a choky sort of tone, as hopes
and fears struggled together in his boyish mind.

"Run as fast as you like, and I'll go too. We'll sail in the 'Pinafore,'
and come home with our pockets full of money.

"'Sing, hey, the merry maiden and the tar!'"

burst out Will, who was so full of spirits she could not keep still
another minute.

Jimmy joined in, and the fresh voices echoed through the street so
pleasantly that Mrs. Peters stopped scolding her six squabbling
children, while Kitty's moaning changed to a feeble little sound of
satisfaction, for "brother's" lullabies were her chief comfort and
delight.

"We shall lose school, you know, for we act in the afternoon, not the
evening. I don't care; but you will, you like to study so well. Miss Pym
didn't like it at first, but Ma said it would hel