I shall not repeat the man's story, it was a poor one, a vile one; at last he observed, "So that affair which you know of determined me to leave the filching trade, and take up with a more honest and safe one; so at last I thought of the pea and thimble, but I wanted funds, especially to pay for lessons at the hands of a master, for I knew little about it." "Well," said I, "how did you get over that difficulty ?" "Why," said the man, "I thought I should never have got over it.

What funds could I raise?
I had nothing to sell; the few clothes I had I wanted, for we of the thimble must always appear decent, or nobody would come near us.

I was at my wits' ends; at last I got over my difficulty in the strangest way in the world." "What was that ?" "By an old thing which I had picked up some time before--a book." "A book ?" said I.
"Yes, which I had taken out of your lordship's pocket one day as you were walking the streets in a great hurry.

I thought it was a pocket-book at first, full of bank notes, perhaps," continued he, laughing.

"It was well for me, however, that it was not, for I should have soon spent the notes; as it was, I had flung the old thing down with an oath, as soon as I brought it home.