“I am illustrating Prof. Hazlitt’s ethnological work. I think it may take me some months more, working evenings.”

“That won’t interfere with us. I was afraid you might be under an engagement with a rival publication.”

“No, sir. So far as that goes I will confine myself to The Phœnix if——”

“Terms are satisfactory, I suppose.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Then I will agree to pay you twenty-five dollars a week for the first six months. I may be able to do better afterward.”

Chester was dazzled. Twenty-five dollars a week! What would Silas Tripp say to that or his enemy, the bookkeeper.

“I accept,” he answered, promptly.

CHAPTER XXV.