"Yes," said Rufus, "I've retired¹ from the newspaper business on a large fortune, and now I'm going into business in Wall Street just to occupy my time."

 

The last speaker was a stout², well-grown boy of fifteen, with a pleasant face, calculated to inspire confidence. He looked manly³ and self-reliant, and firm of purpose. For years he had been a newsboy, plying⁴ his trade in the streets of New York, and by his shrewdness, and a certain ready wit, joined with attention to business, he had met with better success than most of his class. He had been a leader among them, and had received the name of "Rough and Ready," suggested in part, no doubt, by his name, Rufus; but the appellation⁵ described not inaptly his prominent traits. He understood thoroughly⁶ how to take care of himself, and thought it no hardship, that, at an age when most boys are tenderly cared for, he was sent out into the streets to shift for himself.

 

His mother had been dead for some time. His step-father, James Martin, was a drunkard, and he had been compelled to take away his little sister Rose from the miserable⁷ home in which he had kept her, and had undertaken to support her, as well as himself. He had been fortunate enough to obtain a home for her with Miss Manning, a poor seamstress, whom he paid for her services in taking care of Rose. His step-father, in order to thwart⁸ and torment⁹ him, had stolen the little girl away, and kept her in Brooklyn for a while, until Rufus got a clue to her whereabouts, and succeeded in getting her back. At the time when the story opens, he had just recovered her, and having been fortunate enough to render an important service to Mr. Turner, a Wall Street

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