and Guy, Hector kept on his way
downtown. He did not expect to meet any more acquaintances, but he
was again to be surprised. Standing on the sidewalk having his boots
blacked, he recognized the schoolfellow he had least reason to like--Jim
Smith.

"What brings Jim here?" he asked himself, in some surprise.

He did not feel inclined to go up and claim acquaintance, but it chanced
that he became witness of a piece of meanness characteristic of Jim.

When the young bootblack had finished polishing his shoes, he waited for
his customary fee.

Jim fumbled in his pockets, and finally produced two cents.

"There, boy," he said, placing them in the hand of the disgusted knight
of the brush.

"What's that for?" he asked.

"It's your pay."

"Look here, mister, you've made a mistake; here's only two cents."

"I know it."

"Do you think I work for any such price as that?"

"Perhaps you expect a dollar!" sneered Jim.

"No, I don't; but a nickel's my lowest price. Plenty of gentlemen give
me a dime."

"That's too much; I've paid you all I'm going to."

"Wait a minute. That boot don't look as well as the other."

Jim unsuspiciously allowed the boy to complete his work, but he had
occasion to regret it. The bootblack hastily rubbed his brush in the mud
on the sidewalk and daubed it on one of Jim's boots, quite effacing the
shine.

"There, that'll do," he said, and, scrambling to his feet, ran round the
corner.

Then, for the first time, Jim looked down, and saw what the boy had
done. He uttered an exclamation of disgust and looked round hastily to
see where the offender had betaken himself. His glance fell upon Hector,
who was quietly looking on, and not without a sense of enjoyment.

It often happens that we greet cordially those for whom we have even a
feeling of aversion when we meet them unexpectedly away from our usual
haunts. Jim, who was beginning to regret that circumstances had forced
him to leave the serene sanctuary of Smith Institute, since now he would
be under the necessity of making his own living, was glad to see our
hero.

"Is it you, Roscoe?" he said, eagerly.

"Yes," answered Hector, coolly.

"What are you doing?"

"Walking about the city, just at present."

"Suppose we go together."

Hector hardly knew how to refuse, and the two boys kept down Broadway in
company.

"You're surprised to see me, ain't you?" asked Jim.

"Rather so."

"You see, I got tired of the school. I've been