“I hope it will, I am sure,” replied the lady. “Here, take this, little boy, and give that to the other boy.”
“This” was half-a-crown. Alfred looked at it with surprise. He had never had more than a shilling at a time to spend, and thought himself quite rich with that amount. How happy he felt when he pictured what he could buy with it for his mother and for Maggie, who was three years older than he!
“Now, boys,” said Dr. Phillips, “we must be moving, or we shall be late for service. You are taking the solo, aren’t you, Parker?”
The boys went away with Dr. Phillips, and Alfred thought he had never enjoyed a service so much before; he certainly had never sung better.
When the service was over, the boys went home, as there were no more lessons that day.
“Steve,” said Walter, as they were walking from the cathedral, “we’ve been in luck.”
“We’ve had half-a-crown each given to us by a lady at the deanery.”
“Why don’t you buy an induction-coil now at Mr. Cottenham’s?--you’ve got batteries--and then we can do some experiments.”
“All right!” said Walter, “I am game. You had better buy one as well, Alfred, and then we can make a very strong current.”
Alfred did not reply, and away they ran as quickly as they could to spend the money.
Mr. Cottenham was not in the shop, so the parrot whistled and called out “Shop!”
“One of those half-crown induction-coils, please, sir.”
He got one out for them, and soon showed Walter how to use it. Walter was very fond of science, and all his spare pocket-money was spent with Mr. Cottenham, who not only encouraged the boy, but helped him, and gave him quite as much as he bought.
“Well, Alfred, do you want one too?” he inquired, seeing the half-crown in the boy’s hand.
“What are you going to do with your money? Put it in the savings-bank, eh?”
“No, sir; I am going to send it home to mother.”
“Do you want a pill?” said Poll, who had been watching the boys very intently without speaking.
The coil having been bought, the boys were just going away, when Mr. Cottenham invited them all to come the following evening to tea, promising to show them some experiments in chemistry and electricity.
“Thank you, sir,” replied Walter, his eyes beaming with pleasure. “We will all come as early as we can. Good-evening, sir!”