Jem was extremely glad of this; and the next day he had finished his task by four o’clock; so that he had all the rest of the evening to himself. He was as fond of play as any little boy could be; and when he was at it he played with all the eagerness and gaiety imaginable; so as soon as he had finished his task, fed Lightfoot, and put by the sixpence he had earned that day, he ran to the playground in the village, where he found a party of boys playing, and amongst them Lazy Lawrence, who indeed was not playing, but lounging upon a gate, with his thumb in his mouth. The rest were playing at cricket. Jem joined them, and was the merriest and most active amongst them; till, at last, when quite out of breath with running, he was obliged to give up to rest himself, and sat down upon the stile, close to the gate on which Lazy Lawrence was swinging. “And why don’t you play, Lawrence?” said he. “I’m tired,” said Lawrence. “Tired of what?” “I don’t know well what tires me; grandmother says I’m ill, and I must take something—I don’t know what ails me.” “Oh, pugh! take a good race—one, two, three, and away—and you’ll find yourself as well as ever. Come, run—one, two, three, and away.” “Ah, no, I can’t run, indeed,” said he, hanging back heavily; “you know I can play all day long if I like it, so I don’t mind play as you do, who have only one hour for it.” “So much the worse for you. Come, now, I’m quite fresh again, will you have one game at ball? do.” “No, I tell you I can’t; I’m as tired as if I had been working all day long as hard as a horse.” “Ten times more,” said Jem, “for I have been working all day long, as hard as a horse, and yet you see I’m not a bit tired, only a little out of breath just now.” “That’s very odd,” said Lawrence, and yawned, for want of some better answer; then taking out a handful of halfpence,—“See what I got from father to-day, because I asked him just at the right time, when he had drunk a glass or two; then I can get anything I want out of him—see! a penny, twopence, threepence, fourpence—there’s eightpence in all; would not you be happy if you had _eightpence_?” “Why, I don’t know,” said Jem, laughing, “for you don’t seem happy, and you _have eightpence_.” “That does not signify, though. I’m sure you only say that because you envy me. You don’t know what it is to have eightpence. You never had more than twopence or threepence at a time in all your life.” Jem smiled. “Oh, as to that,” said he, “you are mistaken, for I have at this very time more than twopence, threepence, or eightpence either. I have—let me—see—stones, two shillings; then five days’ work—that’s five sixpences, that’s two shillings and sixpence; in all, makes four shillings and sixpence; and my silver penny, is four and sevenpence—four and sevenpence!” “You have not!” said Lawrence, roused so as absolutely to stand upright, “four and sevenpence, have you? Show it me, and then I’ll believe you.”