od, in a kind and encouraging
tone. "If you've done wrong, confess it, and I'll forgive you!"

"I don't deserve to be forgiven!" returned Jack, bursting into tears;
"for I'm afraid I've done very wrong. Do you know this, Sir?" he added,
taking a key from his pocket.

"Where did you find it!" asked Wood.

"It was given me by a man who was drinking t'other night with Blueskin
at the Lion! and who, though he slouched his hat over his eyes, and
muffled his chin in a handkerchief, must have been Jonathan Wild."

"Where did _he_ get it?" inquired Wood, in surprise.

"That I can't say. But he promised to give me a couple of guineas if I'd
ascertain whether it fitted your locks."

"Zounds!" exclaimed Wood; "it's my old master-key. This key," he added,
taking it from the boy, "was purloined from me by your father, Jack.
What he intended to do with it is of little consequence now. But before
he suffered at Tyburn, he charged your mother to restore it. She lost it
in the Mint. Jonathan Wild must have stolen it from her."

"He must," exclaimed Jack, hastily; "but only let me have it till
to-morrow, and if I don't entrap him in a snare from which, with all
his cunning, he shall find it difficult to escape, my name's not Jack
Sheppard."

"I see through your design, Jack," returned the carpenter, gravely; "but
I don't like under-hand work. Even when you've a knave to deal with, let
your actions be plain, and above-board. That's my maxim; and it's the
maxim of every honest man. It would be a great matter, I must own, to
bring Jonathan Wild to justice. But I can't consent to the course you
would pursue--at least, not till I've given it due consideration. In
regard to yourself, you've had a very narrow escape. Wild's intention,
doubtless, was to use you as far as he found necessary, and then to sell
you. Let this be a caution to you in future--with whom, and about what
you deal. We're told, that 'Whoso is partner with a thief hateth his own
soul.' Avoid taverns and bad company, and you may yet do well. You
promise to become a first-rate workman. But you want one quality,
without which all others are valueless. You want industry--you want
steadiness. Idleness is the key of beggary, Jack. If you don't conquer
this disgraceful propensity in time, you'll soon come to want; and then
nothing can save you. Be warned by your father's fate. As you brew so
must you drink. I've engaged to watch over you as a son, and I _will_ do
so as far