Tom enjoyed his visits to Mrs.
Church, and Mrs. Hopkins was sure to encourage him to go to her, as she
hoped against hope that when the old lady died Tom would be left some of
her money.
It was on a Wednesday that Susy sat in the parlor and forgot all about
the interests of the shop; it was on that very night that the tramp had
come in and helped himself to a ten-shilling-piece and some silver out
of the till; and it was on the following Saturday that Mrs. Hopkins, for
the first time since she had borrowed the hundred pounds from Aunt
Church, as she called the old lady, found that she could not return even
a portion of what had just fallen due. She called Tom to her side.
"Tom," she said, "you must go and see Aunt Church this afternoon as soon
as ever you come in. You must go, and you must tell her."
"Of course I'll go, mother," answered the boy. "I always like going to
Aunt Church's; she is very kind to me. She said next time I came along
she'd show me things in her microscope. She has got a beetle's wing,
mother, mounted on glass, and when you gaze down at it it seems to be
covered with beautiful feathers, as long as though they were on a big
bird. And she has got a drop of water full of wriggly things all alive;
and she says we drink it by the gallon, and it is no wonder we feel bad
in our insides. I'll go, right enough. I suppose you have the money
ready?"
"No, Tom, that's just what I have not got.
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