'I suppose you can be made happy,' said uncle Bryan, 'by being indulged in all your whims and caprices, and by being allowed to act and think exactly as you please, without restraint.'
'No,' replied Jessie tearfully, 'I only want kindness; I cannot live without it.'
She turned to leave the room, with signs of agitation on her face, when uncle Bryan desired her to stay.
'There is something more,' he said. 'In the event of this gentleman--Mr. Glover--seeing you home again, he must not do so clandestinely. I owe a duty to you which I must perform, however distasteful it may be to you.'
'It is not distasteful to me,' she replied. 'Mr. Glover would have seen me to the door yesterday but for my refusal to allow him. I am truly anxious to do what is right.'
My uneasiness with respect to this discovery would have been unbearable but for a change in my circumstances which placed the day more at my own disposal. I had advanced steadily in my trade, and was by this time a thoroughly good engraver. I think I brought into my work more than mere mechanical exactness, and some blocks of my engraving which went out of Mr. Eden's office attracted meritorious attention. I knew of men who were earning good wages--far higher than I was receiving--by taking work from master engravers, and executing it at home. Why could I not do the same? I should not then be so tied down as not to have an hour or two in the middle of the day to myself; and in the event of my availing myself of the opportunity, I could easily make up for lost time by working an hour or two later in the night. I mentioned this to Jessie, and said that then I could come to Mr. Rackstraw's, and bring her home of an afternoon--instead of Mr. Glover, I added.
'I would sooner,' said Jessie, 'that you saw me home than Mr. Glover. I believe you are jealous of him, you foolish boy! You have no occasion to be.'
Such a crumb of comfort as this would console me for days.
'And then I shall be my own master,' I said to myself proudly.
My employer anticipated my wish; he was a generous conscientious man, and I had earned his respect. He called me into his office, and, almost in the exact words I have set down, proposed that I should do as I wished.