"Then for restoring it to me."
"That was simple honesty, sir, and merited nothing either."
"Still, there would be no harm in your taking this from me," insisted Mr. Middleton, pressing the gold upon the boy.
"No, sir; perhaps there would not be; but I am sure—I am very sure—that Thomas Jefferson when he was a boy would never have let anybody pay him for being honest!"
"Who?" demanded Mr. Middleton, with a look of perplexity.
"Thomas Jefferson, sir, who wrote the Declaration of Independence, that I read of in that beautiful history you gave me."
"Oh!" said Mr. Middleton, ceasing to press the money upon the boy, but putting it in his pocketbook and returning the pocketbook to his pocket. "Oh! and by the way, I am told that you have sold that history to-day."
"Yes! for money to buy spinning-tops and marbles with!" put in Miss Claudia.
Ishmael looked around in dismay for a moment, and then burst out with:
"Oh, sir! indeed, indeed I did not!"