name and place of his habitation.
Having accomplished this, he dressed himself in a blue nautical suit
with brass buttons, took the morning train to London, and in due course
presented himself at the door of the Grotto, where he requested
permission to see the boy Towler.

The request being granted, he was shown into a room, and Billy was soon
after let in upon him.

"Hallo! young Walleye, why, what ever has come over you?" he exclaimed
in great surprise, on observing that Billy's face was clean, in which
condition he had never before seen it, and his hair brushed, an
extraordinary novelty; and, most astonishing of all, that he wore
unragged garments.

Billy, who, although outwardly much altered, had apparently lost none of
his hearty ways and sharp intelligence, stopped short in the middle of
the room, thrust both hands deep into his trousers pockets, opened his
eyes very wide, and gave vent to a low prolonged whistle.

"What game may _you_ be up to?" he said, at the end of the musical
prelude.

"You are greatly improved, Billy," said Jones, holding out his hand.

"I'm not aweer," replied the boy, drawing back, "as I've got to thank
_you_ for it."

"Come, Billy, this ain't friendly, is it, after all I've done for you?"
said Jones, remonstratively; "I only want you to come out an' 'ave a
talk with me about things, an' I'll give 'ee a swig o' beer or whatever
you take a fancy to. You ain't goin' to show the white feather and
become a milksop, are you?"

"Now, look here, Mister Jones," said the boy, with an air of decision
that there was no mistaking, as he retreated nearer to the door; "I
don't want for to have nothin' more to do with _you_. I've see'd much
more than enough of 'ee. You knows me pretty well, an' you knows that
wotiver else I may be, I ain't a hippercrite. I knows enough o' your
doin's to make you look pretty blue if I like, but for reasons of my
own, wot you've got nothink to do with, I don't mean to peach. All I ax
is, that you goes your way an' let me alone. That's where it is. The
people here seem to 'ave got a notion that I've got a soul as well as a
body, and that it ain't 'xactly sitch a worthless thing as to be never
thought of, and throw'd away like an old shoe. They may be wrong, and
they may be right, but I'm inclined to agree with 'em. Let me tell 'ee
that _you_ 'ave did more than anybody else to show me the evil of wicked
ways, so you needn't stand there grinnin' like a rack