Peter Biddulph | Page 2

most bitterly. We had been all in all to each other, and I should have broken down altogether with grief, had not my kind host roused me up and advised me to go out and try and do something to gain my livelihood. Hunger is a severe taskmaster; it makes many an idle man work.
I now became a regular mudlark, though I got employment when I could by running on errands and in assisting the boatmen on the river. I was one summer's day, with a number of other boys, wading up to my knees in the water, when a boat with several gentlemen on a pleasure excursion came down the river, and pulled into the shore near where we were. Some of the gentlemen landed, while the others who remained in the boat amused themselves by throwing halfpence into the water for us to dive after. They scattered them about in every direction, so that many coins were altogether lost; for as the boys rushed after them they drove them into the mud.
At last, as I was standing some way from the other boys, a gentleman threw a penny towards me; but it passed over my head and fell into deep water, and directly afterwards I heard him exclaim--
"Dear me! I've lost my ring--my diamond ring, too. I would not have lost it for a hundred pounds."
As he had been throwing pence in various directions, he had no notion where it had fallen, though he naturally concluded that it had come off at one of those times. As I saw that he was very much annoyed at his loss I felt sorry for him; so I went up to him, and told him that I would hunt about for his ring, and that if I found it I would gladly bring it to him, provided he would tell me where he lived.
"But don't you bargain for a reward?" asked one of his companions.
"That depends upon how far off the gentleman lives," I replied. "If near at hand this errand may be only worth a sixpence; but if far off, perhaps he won't think a shilling too much to give me."
"I'll tell you what, my man; I'll gladly give you ten shillings if you find it; but I fear there is little chance of your so doing," replied the gentleman, smiling.
"There's nothing like trying, sir," I replied; "and if you'll tell me your name and where you live, if I pick it up you shall have it again."
"Well, then, you must inquire for Mr Wells, -- Street, -- Square, London," said the gentleman.
"If you write it down I shall have less chance of forgetting it," I replied.
"That would be little use to you, my man," he observed; "you cannot read, I should suppose."
"But I can, though," I replied. "Give me your card, and you will see I speak the truth."
On this one of the gentlemen drew out a card from his pocket, and wrote some words on it with a pencil, while I washed my hands and dried them in my shirt-sleeves. He then handed me the card. I looked at it and saw that it was in a language I could not understand.
"Those are Latin words, and I did not say I could read any language," I observed, handing him back his card.
"You are right, my boy," said the gentleman who had lost his ring; "but here are some lines in English: let us hear if you can read them."
I looked at the lines attentively: they were at the commencement of a poem my mother had taught me; so I not only read them off fluently, but, to the great surprise of all present, went on repeating the succeeding ones.
"Bravo! bravo!" exclaimed the gentlemen, highly delighted. "You're a genius, my lad--a perfect marvel. A mudlark spout poetry! Truly the schoolmaster is abroad."
"Who taught you your learning, my boy?" asked another.
"My mother, sir," I replied, calmly, and rather surprised at their expressions, for I saw nothing wonderful in my performance.
"I should like to see this mother of yours; she must be out of the common way too," observed the same person.
"Mother is dead, sir," I answered, crying; for the very mention of her name wrung my young heart with grief.
"There is something more here than meets the eye," said Mr Wells. "My poor boy, don't cry. Come to-morrow to my house, whether you find my ring or not. In the meantime here is half a crown; your poetry deserves it."
I took the money almost mechanically; for I was thinking of my mother, and was scarcely aware of the amount of wealth I was receiving.
On seeing Mr Wells give me money, the other gentlemen did the same, and some even gave me as much as five shillings; so that I felt