"Very well," said the seamstress, "I will agree to that, if you will wait till I have finished my dress. I think I can have it done, so that we can go on Wednesday afternoon. Will that do?"
"Yes, that will suit me very well. I hope it will be a pleasant day."
"If it is not, we can defer it to the next day."
It will need to be explained that Rufus had already five dollars in the bank previous to his coming into possession of the contents of the pocket-book. That had originally contained three hundred dollars, but five dollars had been taken out to defray the expenses of advertising in the "Herald."
When Rose was informed of the contemplated excursion, she was filled with delight. The poor child had had very little pleasure or variety, and the excursion, brief as it was, she anticipated with eager enjoyment.
The day opened auspiciously. The early morning hours the newsboy devoted to his business, being unwilling to lose a day's earnings. At eleven o'clock he came to Miss Manning's lodgings. "Well, I am through with my day's work," he said. "How much do you think I have earned?"
"Seventy-five cents?" said the seamstress, inquiringly.
"A dollar and twenty cents," he said.
"You have been very smart. What a number of papers you must have sold!"
"I didn't make it all that way. There were two boys who were hard up, and hadn't any blacking-brushes; so I bought them some, and they are to pay me ten cents a day, each of them, for a month, then I shall let them keep the brushes."