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150 BLACK SHEEP.Jim of late, odd jobs had been plenty, his serviceshad reached in certain quarters the status of recognisedfacts, and the street-boy was kind to hisold relative. They were queer people, but notaltogether uninteresting, ancl, strange to say, byno means unhappy. Old Sally had never beentaught anything herself but shoe-binding, or shewould have imparted instruction to Jim. NowJim had learned to read in his mother's lifetime,and before his father hacl "come to grief" andbeen no more heard of, and it was consequentlyhe who imparted instruction to his aunt.She yvasas fond of penny romances as theboy himself, andwas yvonderfully quick at discovering the impenetrablemysteries and unwinding the labyrinthineyvebs of those amazing productions. SoJim, cheered by the prospect of a lucrative jobfor the morrow, purchased a fresh and intenselyhorrible pennyworth by the way, and devotedhimself for the evening to the delectation of oldSally, who liked her murders, as she liked her teaandher snuff, strongly flavoured.The pennyworth lasted a good while, for Jimread slowly and elaborately, and conversational