“I fear that boy will give me trouble yet,” he said to himself. “He evidently suspects that something is wrong.”
CHAPTER XXIX. JIM SMITH EFFECTS A LOAN.
After parting with Allan Roscoe 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.