A dangerous friend

by Emma Leslie

He told Randall about Drizzle being a roarer, and how nearly he had lost his money; but he did not seem as much impressed as Tom expected to see him.

"You always have to take risks, of course," he said loftily; "and I should mind what I was about with a fellow you know nothing of."

Tom laughed, for Randall's words and manner so exactly bore out what his new friend said about London boys, that he felt rather glad he was above such narrow prejudices and suspicions. "I wasn't born on a Thursday," he said, quoting his own proverb.

"Thursday or Friday, you'd better look out," said Randall.

"You don't like your favourite horse being called a roarer."

"Oh, bother the horse; Drizzle can take care of himself, if you can," said the other. He felt rather nettled that Tom should presume to give him advice upon this matter, and for the next day or two they were rather cool to each other.

But Tom continued to meet his new friend after tea, and they generally went for a long walk together. The time of Tom's return home getting a few minutes later each night, until at last his uncle got home first, and the clock had struck ten before he knocked at the door.

Of course his uncle wanted to know where he had been, and who he had spent the evening with, but to his own surprise, Tom could tell very little concerning his companion. He had been told to call him Jack, but he did not know where he lived; and so far as he knew he did not do any work, so that his uncle's questions revealed to him the fact that while he had given his new friend every scrap of information about himself and his home, and his employers, he really knew nothing of him beyond the fact that his name was Jack, that he was a pleasant spoken lad, and seemed to have plenty of money to spend, for he generally bought cakes for Tom and himself during the evening.

All this was told to Mr. Flowers when he pressed Tom with questions, but as there seemed to be no occasion for forbidding the acquaintance, his uncle only warned him to be careful and not to stay out after nine o'clock at night.

Perhaps if he had enquired a little further, and asked what they found to talk about, he might not have been so easy about the matter. For this new friend of Tom's had succeeded in making him believe that there was more than one short but to making money, if he could only discover it; as though to make money and not to give honest work and service was the whole end for which a man or boy had to work.