"Oh, well, you may if you want to," said Ben, laughing; "but you mustn't be discouraged if you don't succeed. Now then, go at it if you wish."
For the next few moments nothing was to be heard but Pip's hard breathing and the scratching of his fine pencil over the paper. Ben yawned and looked longingly at the book on the floor. And there was Bob, and the shark in full pursuit, with the prospect of the sailor putting in an appearance at the last moment. No, it wouldn't do to desert Pip—and—why, really there was something worth while coming on the big piece of white paper. Ben leaned over the thin little figure. "Why, Pip!"
Pip said nothing, but drew his breath harder yet, with every effort on his work. He gripped the pencil as if it were to run away from him, and bent lower yet to his task.
"Don't clutch it so; hold it easier," said Ben, laying his hand on the little thin one, guiding the pencil.
Pip released his grasp for just one moment, then tightened it up again. Seeing which, Ben wisely let him alone. "It'll make him nervous," he said to himself, and turned his attention to watching the sketch grow. "My goodness, to think he can draw like that!"
For there unmistakably was an old man, very withered and bent, holding out his hand, and by his side a little girl in a tattered shawl. Anybody with half an eye could see that the old beggar was blind, and that the girl had been crying.
"Pip! why, where,"—Ben was beaming at him now, as Pip lifted his face,—"how did you learn to draw like that?" and he seized the sketch. It was very rough and uneven, but there they were, sure enough, the two figures.
"I used to see them," said Pip, explaining. "They stood on the corner, don't you know, when the master let us go up to town from school."
"Well, I guess you don't want any lessons from me," declared Ben, not able to take his eyes from the picture.
"Oh, yes, I do, I do," cried Pip, in mortal terror that he was going to lose the very thing above all others that he prized. "I'll tear it up," he cried, with a savage lunge at the picture, and venom written all over his little pale face.