gentleman strolled back into the house and left the boys to their work,
which they undertook with very different feelings. On Barney's side
there was a distinct sense of injury, and he performed his task with
great bitterness of soul; for to work for anything was contrary to his
inmost nature, and to every principle of his life hitherto. So he
sighed and groaned and held on to his long back with both hands at
intervals, and managed to do as small a share of the weeding as
possible. Frank, on the contrary, went to work with a will, with a
pleasant sense that he was earning something, and he was careful to get
the weeds up by the roots, instead of slicing them off neatly at the
top, which was Barney's unprincipled method of gardening. Meanwhile
Andrew's watchful eye never left the boys; and in answer to his master's
inquiries that night his opinion of them was thus delivered:

"Long un's no good, but t'other's bin taught to use his hands. He's no
tramp."

Frank lay awake long that night in the fragrant hay-loft thinking. The
kind old rector, the work, the supper, had roused old memories in his
mind, and his tramping life of late seemed suddenly distasteful. He
longed to "work honest and get wage," and feel a respectable boy again.
If only this nice old gentleman would let him stay and work in his
garden; but that, Frank remembered with a sigh, was hopeless, because he
had "no carikter." And then, there was Barney--Barney, who had always
been good to him, and who had helped him when he most wanted it, he
could not desert him now; and as for trying to turn him from his present
course of life, that was just the most hopeless thing of all. So,
rather sorrowfully, he turned over on the other side, and very shortly
fell fast asleep.

Barney slept too with the profound peacefulness of a mind at rest, as,
indeed, it was; for with the morning's light he had firmly resolved to
steal the old gentleman's silver inkstand, and he was troubled with no
doubts either as to the propriety or success of the undertaking. The
fastening of that lattice-window would be easily managed by a dexterous
hand, and before any of the folks were about he and Frank would be
beyond pursuit; only he must be careful not to wake the Nipper before he
had secured his booty, as he might make foolish and troublesome
objections.

So it came to pass that it was only just daylight next morning when
Frank was waked from a deep sleep by some one shaking