“I shall be glad to begin next Monday, sir. I don’t want to leave the telegraph office without notice.”
“Very well; let it be so. Will twelve dollars a week satisfy you at first?”
“Do you really mean it, Mr. Wade?” asked Paul, in surprise.
“Certainly.”
“But I shan’t earn so much.”
“Leave that to me,” said the young man, smiling. “I intend to have you earn that sum, and more next year.”
Paul expressed his gratitude, and immediately gave notice at the telegraph office that he was about to leave.
“I expected it, Number 91,” said the superintendent, “knowing what powerful friends you had secured. I am sorry to lose you, but I wish you success and prosperity in your new business.”
Paul thought best to make some change in his residence. He had already secured a separate room for himself in the old tenement house, Jerry’s sickness making it necessary. Now he persuaded old Jerry to pay the rent of a modest flat up town, to which he and James Barclay’s family removed. Paul hired a room not far away.
The location was not far from Central Park, and the better air and diet very much improved the health of the old man, who has become less miserly, and finds comfort in the society of his son’s family.